Supernova
by AlwaysACandlelitCorridor
Summary: As Harmony Sea of Gryffindor enters her sixth year at Hogwarts, expecting nothing more than harder classes, she is even surprised when an unexpected friendship springs up between her and Sirius Black, a popular womanizer. As complete opposites, everyone is taken aback. Throw some Death Eaters and an upcoming war in the mix, and things start to get real, and dangerous.
1. Great Beginnings and Gross Books

Harmony Sea of Gryffindor house sat on her dorm room bed while the fire from the fireplace cackled and emitted a warm glow around the room. She listened and laughed while her best friends exchanged, quite excitedly, all their summer adventures. They laughed and caught up as the sixth years unpacked all their belongings from their trucks, preparing for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"...and so the shopkeeper had to actually come up to us and ask us to leave because we were being to loud! I mean, it wasn't our fault that we found a book titled, 'Unique Shaving Patterns for Your-'" Liven burst out in giggles, as did the other girls, cutting off her words.

Liven Pameo was funny and bold, to say the least. She was always speaking her mind and not thinking nor caring about the consequences. With long, shiny black hair and dark blue eyes, she had almost all the boys pretty much kissing her feet.

"I mean, who even writes something like that? And who thought it was good enough to publish?!" Alice Prewett cut in.

Alice was a semi-quiet girl, known for her smarts and ability to obtain the most odd facts; if you had a question about something any normal person wouldn't know, you would go to her. She had thin brown hair that brushed her shoulders and soft green eyes, not to mention the most adorable little blush that covered her cheeks when her almost-obsessive fancy, Frank Longbottom, talked to her. Even if it was about homework.

The girls burst out in laughter and continued to bash the store owner from Liven and Alice's story. They continued to chuckle about this highly inappropriate book that only Liven would look at until Lily Evans cut in.

"Let's get a move on, you lot, we'll miss dinner if we keep at this rate."

"Yes, master." Liven snorted. but nevertheless, the girls, still laughing, turned from Liven and Alice to finish unloading their overpacked trunks.

Harmony hopped off the bed and continued to fold her clothes and place them neatly into the drawer. She knew they were never going to stay that neat, but at least she could say she tried.

The Hogwarts express had to leave five hours earlier due to the threat of the coming war. Said war was caused by a dark wizard named Voldemort, who was obsessed with blood purity. In other words, no muggles breeding with wizards. Or, just no muggles at all. So the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, thought it'd be safest to travel the kids to Hogwarts at six am (five hours early) so when the Death Eaters (Voldemort's followers) show up to kill everyone, they'll be five hours too late.

It was not easy for Harmony because she is as far from a morning person as one can possibly get.

Harmony's summer was pretty good; regardless of the six am departure. She spent it mostly with Rebecca Leen, a weird-in-a-good way girl who loves books and had dirty blonde hair that grew just past her shoulders. She lived right down the street from Harmony, so they spent enormous amounts of time in each other's company.

Harmony smiled to herself just thinking of all the late nights spent under the stars and giggling away in Becca's muggle camping trailer about something or another.

Becca's parents were both muggles, just like Harmony's. As soon as they found out they were both witches when they were eleven, well, it was one of Harmony's best memories. They were good friends even before Hogwarts, which most were surprised to find out. Hogwarts just brought them closer.

Harmony fondly remembered running around outside at 11pm, screaming, "WE ARE REAL LIVE WITCHES!" to the world. It was a good thing that they both lived pretty much in the middle of nowhere, or the Ministry might have had to obliviate some memories.

Harmony was brought back to the present by a loud cuss word and laughter from across the dorm room.

Lily Evans had pulled out a jumper from her tidy trunk to find that it was covered in sweet smelling hair wash.

"Did she actually just swear?" Harmony asked, directing her question at Becca but gawking in Lily's direction.

"Yeah, I think she just did!" She heard Becca say beside her.

Lily Evans, the model student, kind to everyone, top grades, helpful, organized, prefect (the list goes on). Her long, wavy, red hair and shocking emerald green eyes, caused lots of boys to fancy her, regardless of the fact that she had a steady boyfriend of just about 6 months. A Ravenclaw, Korey List, was a tall, handsome, smart prefect with buzz cut blonde hair and the lightest blue eyes.

"Maybe next time you should close the cap, yeah?" Harmony smirked at Lily as she came back from the bathroom, clean jumper in one hand and wand in the other.

"Oh, hush." Lily rolled her eyes and Liven snorted loudly from across the room.

"How ladylike." Harmony commented dryly from near the window, where her bed was.

Liven just snorted again at this comment.

Harmony mock-sighed and turned back to her trunk. She was so happy to be back at Hogwarts, her home, with her extended family.

Harmony had a great home (not Hogwarts) life, she really did. Loving parents, a little sister who was six and showing promising signs of being a witch. Harmony also had a little brother, Ryan, who was in his third year at Hogwarts.

Harmony was a quiet girl, almost the complete opposite of her brother. While he was loud, popular, outgoing, and funny, she was quite reserved, a bookworm, and top of classes next to Remus Lupin and Lily.

Two things they have in common are their looks; dark hair, tanned skin and their mischievous streak. Ryan's was almost always present. Harmony's, on the other hand was more rare, but when it hit, it was either extremely dangerous or extremely brilliant. Or both. Usually both.

Harmony had little fascinations on the side, too. Besides stars and space, She loved fire. Fireworks, flames, matches, explosions, sparklers; you name it, she loved it.

Becca was constantly calling her a pyromaniac; a trend that quickly spread like fire itself. It was suddenly 'Harmony, that bookworm/pyromaniac from Gryffindor'.

Well that was how the Marauders saw her.

The Marauders, a tight group of four Gryffindors who were solely responsible for every prank and mishap to happen in Hogwarts.

There was Remus Lupin, the most sane and well-behaved out of the group. Always had a book in hand and his honey brown eyes were always caring. Him and Harmony were quite good friends, starting when she figured out, with Lily's help, that the sandy haired bookworm was a werewolf himself. It didn't bug any of the sixth year girls, which lifted a weight off the poor boy's shoulders knowing that his two groups of friends now knew about his furry little problem, as James put it.

James Potter, handsome, smart, Quidditch star was quite the looker, with his messy black hair and deep hazel eyes which any girl would kill to look into. Too bad he had only eyes for one; Lily Evans herself. They would probably be the prime example of 'opposites attract' and 'match made in Heaven', if Lily didn't hate his guts.

Constantly bickering with him, Harmony was surprised Lily's eyes didn't just fall out if their sockets with all the eye-rolling that went on when Lily and James were in close proximity of each other. Harmony always felt bad for James, as did the better part of Hogwarts' population, because everyone knew that James Potter would do anything for a Lily Evans smile, when Lily Evans would do anything to see him die a painful death.

That's just the facade she put on for everyone else. Harmony and the girls all saw the hidden attraction to him. Ever since fourth year, when he gave her a secret love note and a silver bracelet on her birthday. No one knew about it until Liven found it while digging in Lily's trunk for a quill, and obviously told us everything about it.

Lily always claimed that the bracelet was from her parents, even though they were muggles and the bracelet is goblin made. They didn't say anything though because they lived in fear of the Lily Evans temper to match her hair colour.

Peter Pettigrew, a short, plump boy with watery blue eyes, blonde hair and poor grades was always being questioned on why he was in with the famous and attractive marauders. Well, he was questioned up until Sirius Black threatened to hex the next person to ask about Peter. Needless to say, the questions stopped then and there.

The final marauder, Sirius Black, was and probably still is the biggest man whore Hogwarts has even seen. Wavy, dark black hair, stormy grey eyes, a Quidditch body that any girl wanted like air, and a dazzling smile that revealed perfect teeth. Not to mention that he was smart, hilarious, charming, and had the whole badass attitude totally working in his favour.

Never leaving James, and vice versa, the pair was like a smile-activated bomb; blowing up ovaries with the curve of their lips and causing chaos wherever they went.

As a whole, Remus, Sirius, James and Peter were the most popular boys in school; the marauders.

"We'll be late for dinner! And we can't get to bed too late because I know this year is going to be hell." Harmony was pulled from her thoughts once again by Lily's voice.

"Two swear words in one night; Lily, you're on fire!" Becca exclaimed.

Liven, Alice and Harmony burst out laughing.

"Oh shut it." Lily rolled her eyes playfully.

The girls continued their mindless chatter all the way down to the Great Hall for another one of Hogwarts' famous feasts.

_This is the beginning of something_, Harmony thought, watching her tanned friends together again,_ of something great_.

**A/N- Thanks for reading. There will be more soon! Chapters will get much longer, by the way, as this is only the very beginning. The first few will be short, and the others will become steadily longer.**


	2. Roaches and Realizations

Sirius Black pulled himself up off his bed regretfully as the rest of his dorm mates whined and complained like babies from the doorway.

"I'm bloody starving, Padfoot. Let's go!" Remus Lupin, a quiet, sandy haired werewolf called from the door.

"Yeah, I second that! I'm starving too!" Peter Pettigrew, a short, chubby boy piped up from his spot leaning against the wall outside of the door.

"You're always hungry, so it doesn't count, Wormtail." Sirius grumbled while throwing a jumper on over his head and walking to the mirror.

"You're so selfish. Checking your hair while your best mates are wasting away." James Potter exclaimed, while leaning on Remus dramatically.

"Oi, get off me, Prongs."

"But Mooooooooony!" James, a messy haired, lanky teenager with deep hazel eyes framed by glasses whined loudly, causing Sirius to whop him upside the head as he passed through the doorway and out into the stairwell.

"OW!"

"Man up, Prongs!" Sirius called as he used his long legs to his advantage and galloped down the stairs three at a time.

"Bloody prick." James mumbled, rubbing his head where it had been hit by Sirius. Peter giggled.

The boys, or the Marauders, as they called themselves, made their way to the portrait hole, exiting the Gryffindor common room. Well, after Remus had to go back and retrieve Sirius who stopped to hit on some fifth years near the red couches.

"Do you have to hit on every living thing that breathes?" Remus asked, one hand grabbing the collar of Sirius' shirt as he dragged the womanizer out the portrait hole.

"All living things breathe, Moony." Peter piped up.

"And to answer your question, no, I don't have nor do I want to hit on any living thing. Breathing or not."

"Oh? Is that so?" Remus asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I would never hit on Pete." Sirius said seriously, eyes wide.

"How kind." Remus mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Sirius' serious expression broke and he ginned at little Peter, "Just kidding, Wormtail. You're drop dead gorgeous." Sirius wiggled his fingers at the blonde-haired boy as Sirius performed his famous wink and grin, which caused Peter to blush slightly.

"So, you remembered everything, Moony? The house elves let you in?" James asked, forcing the previous conversation to come to a halt. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what the marauders were about to do. They made their way down to the Great Hall for a much awaited feast.

"Yeah, it took a little convincing, but who can say no to the charming Padfoot?" Remus said the last part sarcastically.

"I know, even the house elves are attracted to me!" Sirius interjected, smirking cockily.

"Yeah, yeah. You're gorgeous, we know." Peter said under his breath from next to Sirius.

Remus snorted, but when Sirius turned around, Remus quickly composed his facial expression into something more innocent-looking.

As James wasn't paying attention to the conversation yet again, (quite unlike himself actually, because usually he was the one you'd ask to 'Please, shut up!'), this caused James to question Remus and unknowingly put a stop to Sirius' remark. "Are you sure everything's ready? Did you have enough for everyone?"

"Yes, Prongs. Calm down." Remus said in a calm voice as they entered the Great Hall.

"You're right," James shook himself slightly then grinned. "This prank will be wicked."

"When are they not?" Sirius grinned, too.

James didn't hear his words, however, because as they made their way along the Gryffindor table, a certain red-haired, green-eyed Lily Evans immediately stole his attention.

Talking and laughing with her friends, James automatically steered his body in her direction to go sit down in the seat beside her. The boys rolled their eyes but followed suit.

The two groups of friends (besides James and even Lily) knew that Lily had, on some level, been attracted to James since around fourth year. They were sure that she still was, deep, deep, deep, deep down. She was just in total denial, for she had hated him (or so it seems) for so many years. So she didn't even recognize the attraction. Yet.

He almost ruined her chances of full out fancying him though, because James just couldn't leave Lily's ex-best friend, a Slytherin named Severus Snape, alone for two seconds. One sunny afternoon after their OWLs, curses flew, words were screeched, and laughter echoed around the grounds.

Severus called Lily a mudblood when she had tried to defend him, and James just had to stick his arse right up in the fight too. The friendship ended there and so did (most of) Lily's attraction to James because, even Sirius admitted it, James was being a prick.

James had matured somewhat over the summer, though. Her words hit him hard. He acted like she didn't affect him at all, but Sirius, Remus and Peter saw through it. Starting with when he supposedly went right to 'sleep' when they got back to the dorm room that eventful afternoon.

"Evans! Your summer was good, I hope?" James asked, a bright smile on his face as he flat out ignored the third year girl sitting beside Lily. He wriggled his hips between their shoulders until the third year moved over, throwing a glare in his direction. It melted off her face quickly though and was replaced by a smile and a batt of her mascaraed eyelashes because she looked up to the handsome face of James Potter. Even if he was looking in the opposite direction, at another girl.

"It was fine, Potter." Lily replied cooly, sparing him the shortest of glances.

Everyone knew her summer wasn't, though.

The whole Petunia Evans (Lily's sister) issue was not something that was often discussed, because it made Lily so sad, but was always the first to pop up in their heads when Lily's home life was mentioned.

When Lily got her Hogwarts letter, being a witch, her sister was insanely jealous because she was a muggle. Wanting powers like her beautiful and special sister, she resorted to a jealously, snide, hurtful comments, the silent treatment, cold stares, fury and even annoyance towards Lily. The sisters haven't had a proper conversation in years because of it.

And now, just this past summer, Petunia came home one night with her awful, whale-like boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, and a big clunky diamond ring on her fourth finger.

Lily's mum had cried, her dad smiled, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. When Lily herself tried to congratulate Petunia on the engagement, Petunia had said that 'freaks' weren't allowed at her wedding and this would be the last time they would speak.

To say Lily was crushed was the understatement of the century.

Sirius glanced around the surrounding area for a seat, the last of the first years' names being called for sorting echoing around the hall. He finally decided to sit down at the table next to Harmony Sea, a fellow Gryffindor. He started to say hello to her, as she was often around him because of her friendship with Remus and the fact that they'd kinda-known each other for years. When he turned to Harmony, he was taken completely aback.

This wasn't the Harmony he remembered.

Well, look-wise, anyway.

Her hair had grown long and very curly, just touching her waist, it was a shiny golden brown that glowed in the candlelit Great Hall. Her skin was tan and smooth, not a blemish in sight. Her cheekbones stood out remarkably as she smiled and contributed to the conversation with her friends, her straight teeth glinting, the homemade string and leather friendship-like bracelets around her wrists sliding back and forth as Harmony gestured wildly as she spoke.

Sirius had never really looked at her before; he didn't notice the little things that he was noticing now. He only stopped staring at her when she turned abruptly to the side to see who was suddenly next to her.

"Black." Harmony nodded solemnly, like they were at a funeral.

"Sea, why so cold?" Sirius asked, sending a dazzling smile at her like he always did.

Surprise plastered her face for a moment or two when Sirius greeted her with such a friendly attitude. It passed quickly as she replied, "I guess I didn't really have a reason to be warm." Harmony's words might have stuck with the arrogant boy if she hadn't grinned at the last part.

"What better reason to be warm if you could make a new friend?" Sirius asked as the platters in front of them filled suddenly and Sirius started piling food onto his plate.

"A potential new friend isn't that great of a reason." Harmony contemplated as she took a bite of pasta.

"Sure it is. You never know who could be your soulmate." Sirius said as he shoved half of a chicken cutlet into his mouth.

"But there's also the chance that they could be a total git-faced arsehole." Harmony countered, while sipping pumpkin juice from her goblet.

"Only if they're Slytherin." Sirius said with a mouthful of potato, spewing the half chewed food all over the table.

Remus stopped in mid-sentence and looked over at Sirius in disgust. "Sorry, Harmony. Sirius here is part dog."

Sirius and James snorted loudly at Remus' comment, evidently recalling some inside joke while Remus grabbed a napkin and pushed the potato chunks into a little pile under Sirius' dish.

Harmony chuckled lightly before turning back to her friends.

"Sirius Black, eh?" Liven asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Good catch."

"Can I not have one conversation with someone of the male gender without being questioned? For the love of Merlin's saggy left test-" Harmony stopped talking and look around at everyone.

She might have said the last part rather loudly because the marauders stopped their conversation, James in mid-sentence, and burst out laughing. Harmony blushed and sent a glare to Liven who was also snorting with laughter.

"Carry on, carry on." Harmony mumbled to everyone who was watching her while throwing a noodle at Liven angrily.

"Merlin's-" Sirius started but broke off laughing.

"Saggy-" James tried to continue.

"Well, that's a new one." Remus stated while a smile twitched at his lips.

Peter calmed down enough to start eating again, and the others soon broke off into conversation.

"Well, boys? You ready?" Sirius asked his mates as the dinner plates emptied a little while later.

"As we'll ever be, I reckon." Peter replied.

As the desserts began to appear, screeches and cries of surprise and disgust echoed around the hall. The sixth year Gryffindor girls jumped back in shock and Becca almost fell off her chair, grabbing onto Remus' shirt before she could land on the stone floor.

Crawling on every chocolate, cake, muffin, biscuit, and even jello cube were big, black cockroaches. Not real, of course, but bewitched gummies bought from Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade. A great buy, on the marauder's part.

"SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS OFF ME!" The third year girl beside James screeched loudly, clearly wanting James to come to her rescue because a rather large cockroach was crawling across her plate.

The hall was in an uproar, some first years burst into tears, they were mainly girls, and the older students just laughed.

Dumbledore was smiling merrily from the staff table as he popped one into his mouth chewing then licking his lips as he reached for another. Professor McGonagall was staring at him like he just grew another head...or ate a live cockroach.

The Slytherins looked furious, most of them, and Narcissa Black was making a random fifth-year pull them off her plate, as if they were pieces of hair in her salad.

Harmony spun on Sirius and grinned, "'Cockroach gummies, as they crawl, so does your skin!'" Harmony quoted, as if she had read the display at Zonko's a hundred times.

"How did you know?" Sirius asked, impressed.

"Let's just say that I've probably given that store enough money to support them for a year. Or two." Harmony smiled, her eyes twinkling, cheeks glowing.

"Oh right, you and you're fire." Sirius teased, nudging her shoulder with his arm.

"Always." Harmony grinned like a maniac.

After the hall calmed down, which took awhile, Dumbledore stood up to give his yearly start-of-term-speech.

"Thank you, to that kind person, or people-" he looked directly at the marauders seated at the Gryffindor table- "-for that wonderful and tasty start to our term. Now, our caretaker, Mr Filch would like to remind all students..."

Dumbledore's voice faded into the background as (having heard this speech five times before, now six) Harmony pondered her new-connection? realization? interaction? -with Sirius Black.

Never being particularly close to the marauders, spare Remus, and pretty much just on speaking terms and last-name-basis, Harmony shocked even herself when she realized she quite liked them. And Sirius. He was arrogant and insensitive sometimes, but everyone has their good sides. Little did she realize, she was just beginning to find his.

**A/N- Thanks for reading! I worked really hard on this, I think it payed off. No, Alice isn't related to Molly, I just thought that the last name fit because I've read so many things with her last name Prewett. But if you want to believe that, I'm not stopping you! Anyway, next chapter will be up soon!**


	3. Fireworks and Dirty Looks

"Can I help you?" Harmony Sea asked angrily as she whipped around in her seat to face Sirius Black. He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and had one finger still poised as if he was going to poke her back again.

For the past hour of their last class of the week, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sirius had been relentlessly trying to get Harmony's attention by jabbing his finger into her back repeatedly.

"No, no." Sirius raised his hands and Harmony turned back to the front of the class.

He wanted nothing for about fifteen seconds until Harmony felt a sharp poke in the centre of her back again.

She turned slowly around to him with a sickly sweet smile on her face. "What do you want? Because I will hex your sorry arse into next week, Sirius Black. Expulsion doesn't scare me."

Sirius looked at her face for a moment, then he grinned, not taking this threat seriously. "You have bumps on your spine."

"Shocking! Wait, I've heard that everyone has bumps, Black!" Harmony said sarcastically.

"Oh. So, Harms, what's up?" Sirius asked casually, leaning back on his chair, arms behind his head.

"If you poked my back for the last hour because you wanted to ask 'what's up' then I will personally remove your manhood." Harmony hissed.

"It's true, she'll do it. Ask Parker Thomas, that bloke that graduated two years ago? Yeah, he grabbed her in the halls once. It was a terrifying experience-even for me. And I had all my parts attached." James piped up from beside Sirius.

Sirius actually looked scared for a moment. "Okay, okay, no need for that. I just wanted to know if you could help me with non-verbal? Like in Transfiguration? Remus refuses to help me because apparently I 'continuously abuse his knowledge' and I'm too scared to ask Lily because, well, she's a bit scary."

"I have ears, Black." Lily called from the row in front of Harmony's desk, not even glance up from her paper.

"I'm sorry, how many people are listening in on this conversation?" Harmony asked, annoyed.

Peter, Remus, James, Lily, Liven, Becca and Alice all raised their hands.

"Glad we had that respecting privacy talk, guys." Harmony commented sarcastically.

Sirius snorted. "So is that a yes? Can you help me?"

Harmony turned back to Sirius and said, "Fine. No funny business. Eight sharp, tonight, library."

"Yes! Thanks, Sea. You're the best." Sirius smiled, but it faltered. "Wait, tonight, eight?" He glanced at James quickly.

James just nodded and glanced at the Slytherins.

"Uh, can we make that nine?" Sirius asked, suppressing a grin.

"No." Harmony said quickly. But then she added on, "Unless you have a valid reason why you can't make eight."

Sirius looked at Remus, pleading with his eyes for Remus to make an excuse to Harmony. Remus just smirked and shook his head slightly.

"Well. You'll know soon. I can promise you that you'll laugh." Sirius added on hopefully.

"Uh huh. Now it's eight tonight or you get even more detention from McGonagall." Harmony smiled sweetly.

"Fine, we'll have to reschedule this, mates." Sirius told his friends, who all glared at him.

Sirius sighed. "Or...just do it without me. I want some credit though!"

Remus, James and Peter grinned. "We'll tell you all about it." Peter said.

Lily chose that point to rejoin the conversation, "Tell him about what? What are you planning?" She snapped at James really quick.

"N-nothing, Lils." His reddening cheeks gave him away.

"If you break any rules, James Potter, my punishment will be worse than McGonagall's. And Remus!" Lily screeched, turning on the werewolf. "You're a prefect! You can't go around breaking rules after curfew on the first Friday night back at school, at that!"

Remus kept his calm, surprisingly. "We aren't breaking a single rule, Lily."

As she turned around with one last glare in James' direction. But Sirius added under his breath, "Technically. It's not clearly stated that they can't, so they're good."

Harmony snorted, and Sirius winked. But right as Lily turned around to tell them off about snorting or something like that, their DADA teacher turned around.

"Is there a problem back here? Does someone need help with a question in your book?" Professor Hinkly asked, oblivious to their actual conversation.

"Oh no, Professor H. Just swell." Sirius flashed her a winning smile which made the old teacher blush from her grey hair to her wrinkly toes.

"That's-that's good." She turned away before she could make a fool of herself even more.

Sirius just winked at Harmony as she shook with silent laughter, earning them another glare from Lily.

* * *

At 7:50, Harmony left the comfort of her dorm bed and all her mates who were giggling away about something or another to go tutor Sirius.

As she grabbed her Transfiguration book and left the dorm, Liven called out, "Use protection!"

Harmony sent her a rude hand gesture as she walked down the stairs, listening to the loud laughter from the sixth-year girls' dorm.

As she made her way down to the library, Harmony pondered about how much time she had been spending with the marauders. It was odd, she mused, that those boys could grow on her so quickly.

Not anything significant, but just hanging out with them in the common room, even going down to the library with Remus and James a couple times.

She was beginning to piece together bits and pieces of them, what they are actually like- not the rumours created and egged on by the group of boys.

It was like a hard puzzle that people said they have done thousands of times, but really they only remember which pieces are the corners.

Harmony rounded a corner as she thought about this odd relationship she had with Sirius all of the sudden.

It was almost totally non-existent until just the past week, when he sat down next to her at the start of term feast.

And then suddenly, she found herself and Sirius talking and laughing as the rest of the group walked up ahead while going to Charms, or Sirius smiling at her when the teacher paired them up for Potions on Wednesday. Even today, when he asked her to help him with nonverbal spells, because truthfully, he was terrible at them. But he could have asked anyone. Why her? She wasn't special.

Harmony's thoughts stopped as she reached the library at last. She searched quickly for an empty table, which wasn't that hard considering it was a Friday night. She was shocked, however, to find Sirius already waiting for her at a table near the back.

As she made her way over there, she checked the clock on the wall above the librarian's desk. It read 7:59.

"I thought you were going to be late, Sea!" Sirius cried dramatically as Harmony dropped her textbook onto the table with a slam.

She pulled out a chair and sat down. "Me? Late? Never."

"That's funny," Sirius placed his hand in a V shape under his chin, pretending to think. "I recall Lily yelling at you the other day, I quote, 'You'll be late for your own funeral, you will!'" Sirius said the last part in a high-pitched voice, like that was what Lily's voice sounded like.

It was way scarier than that.

He should've known, with James around all the time.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. No need to remind me."

"Well, I'm glad you came when you did. Another minute and Madam Pince might have eaten me. She's not used to seeing me anywhere near this place, I mean. Last time I was here I accidentally set the table on fire."

Sure enough, that old bat was eying Sirius like she wanted to rip him to shreds right there.

"Are you sure it was accidental?" Harmony smirked.

Sirius cracked a grin as he said, "Nah, you're right. It wasn't." But he added on, "It was so worth the three weeks of detention. The look on her face! Priceless." He pretended to wipe a tear of laughter from his eye.

"Oh, I'm sure it was." Harmony laughed. Sirius just grinned at her.

"Okay, so I thought we'd read about the theory of nonverbal spells first." Harmony said, serious this time.

"Ah, hence the textbook." Sirius looked less than pleased.

"Oh, it just a book. They don't bite."

"The ones in the Restricted Section do." Sirius looked resentfully at the textbook.

"Grow a pair, Black. Are you scared of a book?" Harmony smirked and poked Sirius in the chest.

"Oh hush. I already grew a pair, thank you very much. Any girl would kill to see them. They're beautiful." Sirius straightened up proudly.

"Ew, Sirius. I didn't need to know that." Her face squished into a mask of disgust.

"Oh, that's not what she said."

He dodged the smack from Harmony as she said, "Aren't you a little man whore?"

"What can I say? Who can resist this?" Sirius gestured to his chest.

"I'm not going to answer that, I don't want brain on me when your big head pops." Harmony smirked. "Now, lets get going on these nonverbal spells. Page twenty-four, if you please."

"It's my pleasure." Sirius grumbled as he flipped pages in Harmony's textbook.

* * *

Two hours, many cuss words, dirty looks and flying textbooks later, that old bat that called herself a librarian stomped over to Harmony and Sirius' table and declared that they were 'unreasonably loud', 'disrupting the quiet of the library', and 'disrespecting the studies of the students around them, herself, and the books'.

There were no regrets when they finally left the pressing environment of the library.

"You don't seem fazed. Been kicked out of the library a lot?" Harmony shot a grin at Sirius as they walked down the dark, silent corridors.

"Too many times to count, honestly." Sirius laughed quietly.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a couple moments, until Harmony stopped walking and pulled Sirius' hand close to her face, examining his watch.

She stood looking at it for a couple seconds, squinting into the dark. "Use the light from the window." Sirius suggested.

"Good plan." She dragged him over to the huge window closest to them. Moonlight lit up their faces as Harmony looked at the watch again. Her lips formed the words 'ten-oh-five', then, 'shit'.

"We're five minutes over curfew!" Harmony exclaimed. "Let's go!" She gave Sirius a little tug by the hand before she dropped it.

"Calm down, it's five minutes." Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"But Lily's on patrol tonight!" Harmony told him frantically as she whipped her head back and forth at the corner, checking to see if the halls were empty.

Sirius understood now. Lily would eat them alive if she found them. She's a scary being. Why did James fancy her?!

Sirius lunged forward and grabbed Harmony's hand, leading her in the other direction.

"What are you-" Harmony started, trying to pull her hand away.

Sirius just tightened his grip and said, "Shh. Being a marauder means that you know your secret passageways."

Harmony stopped resisting Sirius' pulling and went along with him, ears sharp for any sign of Lily's voice. Or anyone's voice.

Sirius drew a tapestry aside and gently pulled Harmony through, never dropping her hand.

As they stepped out of the passage, they heard angry voices and the thumping of running footsteps. Harmony turned on Sirius, eyes wide.

Before they could do anything else though, an arm was around Harmony's waist and she was yanked sideways into a broom closet, her hand no longer linked with Sirius'.

She blinked into the darkness, not quite processing what was happening.

An arm was still tight around her waist, a hand resting on her lower back, and she had her nose buried in someone's cologne-smelling t-shirt.

"Wha-?" She questioned before she looked up into the grinning face of James Potter. He put a finger to his lips, signalling her to shush.

She turned slightly to see who's hips were pressed into her back. It was Remus. He just grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Then it hit her.

They talked about doing something in class today, a prank probably. Sirius couldn't make it because he was studying with Harmony.

"Lock the door, Pete. I don't think any of us can reach our wands or the door." Harmony assumed it was Sirius, whispered.

Angry voices were hissing just outside the tight closet.

Harmony's hip was beside the door handle, so when Peter reached to lock it, he somehow messed up the spell, causing water to come out of his wand and splash on the pocket of her jeans. There was silence and then:

BANG.

BANG! BANG!

Suddenly the dark cupboard was filled with bursts of colour and light, shapes and neon lights wizzing around their heads.

WOSH! WEE! BANG!

"Shit! RUN!" James yelped and he kicked the door open and ran down the corridor, the others hot on his heels. Harmony glimpsed a pink-haired burly Slytherin before she bolted after James.

They ran solid for a good two minutes, laughing so hard that they kept falling up the stairs. There was still yelling voices and heavy footfalls behind them, surely attracting every prefect and teacher patrolling the school. The group reached the Gryffindor common room at last.

Sirius screamed the password at the Fat Lady and she swung forward, lecturing them about curfew, loud voices, all that crap.

When they got inside the nearly deserted common room, all five of them kneeled down with laughter and panted until their lungs could hold no more air.

"You-you had fireworks- in your pockets?" Sirius burst out laughing, causing everyone to lose it again.

"Any other time, but it had to be when we were crammed in a broom cupboard hiding from Slytherins!" Remus laughed.

They literally crawled over to the couches near the fire and collapsed into them.

"Why the hell were you carrying no- heat wet-start fireworks in your pockets, Harmony?" James asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Harmony shrugged, "I don't feel right without something like that with me at all times. Tonight just happened to be fireworks, unfortunately." She grinned, standing up and emptying her pockets.

She took out eight matches, the remains of a couple fireworks, a muggle lighter, and a bag of gunpowder she grabbed from under her shirt.

The marauders just gaped open-mouthed at her.

"You, Harmony Sea, are a Gryffindor." Sirius said, breaking the silence. Everyone started laughing again.

She rolled her eyes. "Why thank you, Mr Black. But I don't think that'll save us now, those Slytherins are going to beat the living shit out of us."

"True that, couldn't have said it better myself." Peter mumbled, looking into the fire.

"We'll deal with that tomorrow. New day." James said casually, as if getting the living shit beat out of him was a regular thing.

"But that was the best thing that's happened to me in a while. Oh man, the luck we have. Five sixteen-year-olds jammed in a cupboard while a couple of burly Slytherins are out to get us. Then what happens? The pyromaniac has fireworks in her pockets which explode in the closet. Nice!" Sirius laughed, and pretty soon everyone was rolling on the floor again.

Alice came down a little while later. "What the hell? Harmony?" She asked through tired eyes.

The group stood up slowly, letting out the odd chuckle. Harmony gathered her stuff off the couch from earlier and stored the gun powder in her shirt, grinning and winking at Sirius as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm off to bed, lads. Goodnight." She saluted them, still grinning like a maniac, and followed Alice up the stairs to the dorm rooms.

Oh, this year is going to be interesting, Harmony thought, eyes glinting with mischief in the dark.

**A/N I actually really loved writing this. I hope you enjoyed reading it! The chapters keep getting longer! Anyway, more will come soon!**


	4. Life Chats and Scary Cats

Harmony opened her eyes slowly, only to close them again because of the blinding sunlight assaulting them so early in the morning.

Why the hell was she up at this hour? She only saw the sun out her window on weekday mornings, not weekend mornings.

As Harmony cautiously turned her head to the side away from the window, she just about urinated all over her bed when she saw the grinning face of one of her best friend, Becca Leen.

"WHAT THE FU-" Harmony started before the door was kicked open by none other than Sirius Black and James Potter.

On a broomstick.

That was flaming.

A bloody flaming broomstick.

Was she hallucinating?

"I'm sorry, who drugged my pumpkin juice?" Harmony climbed out of bed.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, grinning at Harmony. She looked down to see that her t-shirt covered the little shorts she wore underneath, making it look like she just wore her knickers to bed.

"I have shorts on, you prick." She stuck a hip out and placed her hand on it, glaring in the boys' general direction where they were grinning widely.

"Barely." Becca snorted from behind Harmony.

She then realized that she was awake and looking at real, live people before eight am.

Harmony spun dangerously on Becca. "Why, in the name of Merlin's hairy right nipple, am I AWAKE? IT'S A SATURDAY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU BLOODY MORON?" Harmony screeched at her best friend.

Becca wasn't fazed by this, as she endured it just about every morning. "Because breakfast is about to start." This didn't satisfy Harmony, whatsoever. So Becca added on, pointing at the boys, "THEM. They made me come and get you!"

Harmony spun on Sirius and James who were now landed and trying to put out the fire on their broomstick.

There were many things that Harmony wanted to know, starting with, "WHY IS YOUR BROOM ON FIRE?" She demanded.

"Lily." James said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"She didn't think it was appropriate for boys to go in the girls' dorms." Sirius said. "And she was afraid that James would go through her underwear drawer. I convinced him not to, though." He added, dodging a smack from James.

"WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP?" Harmony screamed at Sirius.

"We missed you!" James said in a baby-like voice.

"That's not a good enough reason." Harmony sing-songed, dangerously sweet and quiet.

Sirius and James backed up, scared, as Harmony pulled out her wand from the waistband of her shorts.

She got close to them, twirling her wand between her fingers, fire burning in her eyes.

"You didn't warn us that she wasn't a morning person, Becca!" Sirius squeaked over to Becca who was shaking with silent laughter.

Harmony reached back and pulled her hair out of her ponytail slowly, pondering what kind of torture she was going to put them through.

She felt the hair come loose and tumble down her back in uncontrollably curls. James reached for his wand in his pocket, but before he could even blink, Harmony had flicked her wand and James' went flying across the room.

Sirius didn't even bother with his.

A cry of "Expelliarmus!" came from the doorway.

Harmony's wand went flying across the room. She turned to the door to see Remus, Peter, Alice, Liven, and a terrified Lily, her wand raised.

There was silence for a moment until Harmony dove across the room for James' wand, which was closest, and James and Sirius made a leap for the door.

Harmony's fingers closed around the sleek body of James' wand and she shot a hex in the group's general direction.

As Sirius' skin started to turn purple with blue dots, Lily and Remus disarmed Harmony again, the power of the spell throwing her backwards.

Into her bed.

She stood up, everyone staring at her with wide eyes. "SCREW YOU." She pointed to where the group was huddled by the door holding in laughter. Peter's face was purple. Much like Sirius', she mused. "I'M GOING BACK TO BED."

And then she yanked the red curtains of her four poster bed closed.

The group of sixth years stood dumbfounded at where Harmony had stood a second ago.

Next thing they knew, every single one of them was on the ground laughing so hard they thought they were going to burst. Or get an instant six-pack. Or both. Or pee.

They eventually left the dorm when Harmony started screaming random swear words at them again.

* * *

After about twenty minutes of blissful silence, it became painfully obvious that those people had thrown a knife through Harmony's dreams of sleeping in.

She got up slowly, throwing a jumper and a pair of jeans on lazily. She willed her body to bring herself to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Harmony caught sight of her uncontrollable hair, curly and sticking up all over the place, in the mirror. She shuddered slightly and thought, *It's a Saturday, I don't have to look attractive.

As she made her way down to the Great Hall, she was content with her thoughts of violent torture towards James and Sirius. Oh, they were going to die.

Just then Harmony heard a long, drawn out meow behind her.

It was the caretaker's cat.

Fear suddenly filled her but she had no idea why because she wasn't even breaking any rules. It was a Saturday morning. Harmony was just a student making her way down to breakfast.

But Harmony couldn't think straight that early in the morning. Or any morning before ten am.

So Harmony bolted before the creepy caretaker could come anywhere close to her, questioning her life like he was infamous for.

As she reached the Great Hall, she leaned up against the wall to catch her breath.

Harmony heard the meow again and sprinted right into the hall, both doors opening with a bang.

Silence.

The whole school was looking at her.

Cheeks flushed from running, hair flying anywhere and everywhere, eyes huge, and no shoes, Harmony stopped dead.

Slowly, she moved her head up to see the Headmaster smiling, clearly he was in mid-sentence.

"Well, good morning, Miss Sea." He called, waving slightly.

There was more silence.

Why was no one saying anything?

Just then applause erupted from the marauders and Harmony's dorm mates. She whipped her head over to them; they were all standing up and clapping.

Yep, someone definitely drugged her pumpkin juice at dinner last night.

"Let's give a round of applause because, for once in her life, Harmony Sea has gotten out of bed *voluntarily!" Liven shouted.

Then, to Harmony's enormous embarrassment, the whole hall burst out in cheers and shouts of congratulations. Even Professor Dumbledore was smiling and clapping.

Harmony's face was putting the Gryffindor banners to shame as she walked swiftly over to where her friends were seated. She sat down between Remus and Alice. Harmony had never gotten this kind of attention at Hogwarts, or anywhere really, and she was far from enjoying it.

The hall calmed down a moment later and silence eventually claimed the it again.

"As I was saying before Miss Sea clearly achieved a personal record-" The hall chuckled again and Dumbledore smiled good-naturedly, "There will be a Hogsmeade trip next weekend, and I was just going to go over the..."

Once again, Harmony stopped paying attention to Dumbledore. She spied the mug Sirius was holding while he watched Dumbledore speak. She needed to process what just happened.

Starting with coffee.

Harmony snatched the mug right out of Sirius' hands before he could bring it to his lips. He turned from Dumbledore, eyebrows raised.

Harmony took a sip. "Sissy." She declared while pouring the rest of the coffee pot in the mug.

Apparently two sugars and two milks wasn't enough caffeine for her.

"Sissy?" Sirius asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Two sugars and too milks?" She questioned, taking another sip. The more she drank, the more she started to feel better about this thing they called life.

Sirius nodded.

"You can't handle the caffeine." She said bluntly, taking another sip.

"No! That's not true!" Sirius said, looking insulted.

Lily shushed them.

Harmony just smirked before tipping the cup back to get the last drops of coffee.

"Shit, that's good." Harmony breathed, slamming the cup down.

Remus snorted while James whispered, "Caffeine junkie, much?"

Harmony just whacked him on the shoulder.

"So. Last night. Fun, eh?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively while a group of fourth year girls started whispering furiously from down the table. Obviously they were listening to the pair's conversation.

"Not like that, you ninnies!" Harmony snapped at the pair while pouring herself more coffee.

They stopped talking and looked up at Harmony.

_"Drunk whore_." The ugliest of the group said, staring Harmony down.

Harmony choked on her coffee and slowly put the mug down on the table. The marauders whipped around to face fourth year, along with Lily, Alice, Becca and Liven.

"I'm sorry, what?"James asked, bewildered.

The ugly suddenly turned terrified.

Who wouldn't? Insulting one sixteen year old is much easier than nine.

"I-I just-assumed...I thought-" Her face turned red as Sirius glared at her.

"Yeah, don't. Thinking that is. Or breathing. Just turn back around to your little group of friends. Don't pick fights you won't fight, you little bitch." Sirius snapped, pointing a finger at the trembling girl.

Everyone including Harmony turned and faced Sirius, eyebrows raised at his outburst.

Before the girl turned back around, he added, "And Harmony is not drunk nor a whore. If you would like to know what we were doing that was 'fun' last night, Harmony just about blew up a broom cupboard with fireworks and almost got eaten by a couple of Slytherins, which is more than you can say you did last night. Not that it's any of your business what we were doing, but it would be a nice change for you to get your facts straight before you go blabbing your fat mouth all over the school." Sirius finished, shooting daggers at the shaking fourth year.

The girl's friends grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the hall. Dumbledore had stopped speaking a long time ago, Harmony noticed. The hall was chattering happily again, except for the people closest to them. They were swivelling their heads back and forth between Sirius and Harmony.

Having enough of the centre of attention, Harmony gestured for Sirius to follow her out of the hall.

Only a couple people were out in the corridors and the fourth year girl was nowhere no be seen.

Harmony grabbed Sirius' hand and lead him outside into the fresh air of the morning.

As soon as they got out of the castle, Harmony dropped his hand then threw her arms around Sirius' neck. He was surprised, she could tell.

"Thanks, Sirius. Really." Harmony mumbled while he slid his arms around her waist. They stayed like that for a couple odd moments, until Harmony felt Sirius begin to relax a bit.

She pulled back enough to kiss his cheek, then let go of him altogether.

"It was no problem, Harmony." Sirius smiled, a real, genuine smile. Teeth and everything.

Harmony laughed, her cheeks warming up rapidly. She began walking over to the tree near the water's edge. Sirius followed. She looked down as realized that she was still in her socks, completely forgetting about shoes this morning. Oh well. Comfort won over stylishness.

"So, tell me something, Harmony Sea." Sirius said, hands deep in his pockets as they both looked over to the glistening lake, the water rippling from the slight breeze. There were even some students swimming on the opposite bank.

"What do you want to know?" Harmony asked.

"I don't know, something about you. We're friends, I should know you're favourite colour, worst childhood experience, favourite book..." He trailed off.

"Let's see. I love gold, but my absolute favourite is green, the rich one you can find only from the ocean and one's eyes. Worst childhood experience, when my neighbour's dog attacked my face when I tried to pet it. And the last one I don't have an answer for." Harmony told him.

"You don't have an answer?" Sirius asked, eyebrows raised.

"Nope. I've read too many books to count, much less choose a favourite." Harmony said. "How about you?"

"Hmm...red. The Gryffindor red that physically hurts your eyes in the morning and is the boldest colour you will find. Ever. My worst childhood memory...I, uh...well I'll tell you that another time." Sirius avoided Harmony's questioning gaze. "And my favourite book..." Sirius trailed off thinking. "I really don't know. I haven't read very many."

There was quiet for a minute.

"What's your least favourite food group?" Harmony blurted, breaking the silence.

"Dairy. I could never get it down. How about you?" Sirius said.

"Meat and fish. I hate that stuff." Harmony said, her face wrinkling.

"Are you KIDDING?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"Nope." Harmony grinned. "What's something you have a fascination with?"

"Oh, thats easy. A woman's-" Sirius started.

_"Sirius Black you better not finish that sentence_!" Harmony cut in.

He just laughed. "Okay, okay. Hmm...I don't really know. " Sirius thought for a second. "Well, I like muggle technology and cars. I really like motorcycles. Those muggles are geniuses, you know? That's such a clever way for transportation. How about you?"

"Stars. Space." Harmony said quickly. "Oh man, I can't even start. Everything. Dark matter, black holes, galaxies, stars, and their masses, colours, temperatures, I love solar systems, constellations, supernovas, gravity..." She trailed off, smiling slightly. Suddenly she turned back to Sirius. "Can I tell you something?"

Sirius looked at her, smiling. "Sure, Harms."

"When I was a kid...I used to sneak out of the house almost every night, especially in the summer, just to go lay on the grass, looking at the stars. Hours I would spend out there. Thinking about things I tried my hardest to figure out, but never could. I still don't." Harmony sat down and played with a piece of grass, grateful that Sirius wasn't questioning her about what it was she couldn't understand. "I still do it, sneak out, that is. I go up to the Astronomy Tower, when the castle is quiet, peaceful."

The pair was quiet for a moment, just looking over the lake.

"I like that, star gazing. I had to learn the constellations, when I was a kid. Mum made me." Sirius said sadly.

"Sirius, the brightest star." Harmony smiled as she felt the breeze ruffle her hair.

"All my family is named after constellations. That's about the only thing I like about the Black family." Sirius said darkly.

The sound of kids splashing each other filled the pair's ears, joyous laughter echoing around the grounds.

Harmony looked over at him, breaking the silence. "You weren't supposed to be a Gryffindor, were you?"

Sirius turned to face her, he was sitting too, and looked straight into her eyes. "No, I wasn't."

"When did you leave?" She asked.

Sirius hesitated, then looked into her eyes again and apparently decided he can trust her. "Just the past summer. My family is true to their name. Black past, present and future."

Harmony reached out and placed her soft hand over his. "But you're not one of them, nor have you ever been. You're different from them, Sirius. Even I can see that, an I've only really known you for about a week."

"I was always different." Sirius said sadly.

Harmony just nodded, understanding. "It's not a bad thing, you know."

He looked back at her suddenly. "I've...never really told anyone about all this...much less someone who I started talking to a week ago." He smiled. "I like it, and I like you, Harmony Sea. Thanks."

She just smiled. "Lily would skin me if she heard me say this, but I like you too, Sirius Black. You're not as bad as I thought."

He just grinned. "Let's talk about something fun. Every burn on your body..go!"

Harmony thought for a second, "Every finger, right palm, back of my left hand, collarbone, neck, both wrists, inside of my left arm, right hip, and both legs. And the top of my right foot. That one was the most painful."

Sirius grinned and laid down, Harmony followed his lead. "That's a lot."

"It's my punishment for loving fire." She shrugged. "Okay, best dare you've ever completed?"

"Well from what I remember, Remus and James, who were also a bit, ah, intoxicated, had to light a whole box of firecrackers from Zonko's while I rode a broomstick back and forth over them, trying to avoid the fireworks. I still have that burn on my leg. So worth it though. We were laughing so hard after that we fell into James' pond." Sirius smiled, recalling the memory.

"Okay, have you ever been drunk before?" Sirius asked Harmony.

"A couple times. But the best time was when Liven, Alice, Becca and I snuck some Butterbeer from the Liven's parents one weekend. It was a good night. I fell in a lake and set a small tree on fire, if I recall correctly. And peed on someone's

tent. We were up camping in Becca's muggle camping trailer. It was just us, her parents dropped us off in a camping ground for the weekend. We were pissed. And then I remember having the worst hangover after, it was terrible. But so much fun." Harmony grinned and watched as some kids walked out of the school and went to dip their feet in the lake, clearly oblivious to the giant squid making a beeline towards their dangling toes.

"Sounds like you're a fun drunk." Sirius stated, grinning.

"I could say the same about you." Harmony laughed.

The pair kept talking, unknowingly being watched by their group of friends from the Gryffindor common room window.

"It's an odd pairing, alright." Becca said, watching Harmony and Sirius laugh as they gazed at the clouds.

"Did you see how he blew up at that fourth year this morning? That was scary." Peter commented.

"Two weeks. Two weeks and they'll be best mates, you watch." Liven said.

"I have to agree." Remus commented, walking back over to the Gryffindor couch and opening his book.

The morning and eventually afternoon passed by, the group lounging in the common room, only leaving to bring food back for the others from the Great Hall.

Sirius and Harmony came in right before dinner, smiling and laughing like they've been close for years.

"We thought you got eaten by the giant squid." James said mildly.

Harmony rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get washed up for dinner. See you in a bit, Sirius."

Lily came through the portrait hole at that moment, smiling widely and a little pink in the face because she had just got back from spending the day with her boyfriend, Korey List.

"Bye, Harms." Sirius called as she made her way up to the stairs. Sirius plopped down on the couch, staring into the fire.

"I'm going up with her, see you at dinner." Becca said as she followed Harmony's lead.

As she went up the stairs, she caught the sad expression on James' face as he listened in to what Lily was telling Liven about her day with Korey.

When Becca opened the door to the dorm, she saw Harmony in the bathroom attempting to fix her hair.

"You smell like a man." Becca stated bluntly while leaning against the bathroom doorframe, smiling.

Harmony shrugged. "Like Sirius, probably." She winced as she tugged out a knot in her hair.

"I'm jealous. You just spent a day with the hottest guy in school!" Becca cried.

"We were just talking. Getting to know each other better."

"Mhmm. Okay. Now let's just get going, dinner's soon. Besides, Liven brought some firewhiskey from home, she said we can have it tonight." Becca said, grinning wickedly and ignoring Harmony's protests that nothing was going on between Sirius and herself. Her eyes lit up when she heard firewhiskey, though. Two of her favourite things in the world, combined. Well the word was combined. It didn't literally have fire. It just felt like fire going down. Harmony like to imagine it was fire, though.

Soon the group made their way down to the Great Hall, the smell of mouthwatering food driving everything else out of the teens' minds.

"I flippen love Hogwarts," Peter mumbled as he opened the doors to the hall. "Love it." He repeated.

**A/N Yeah, this one's a little more serious (pun intended). I liked writing it, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. The next one will be up soon, and if all goes well, it should be fun.**

**Thanks to my reviewers, favouriters and followers!**


	5. Tipsy Tangos

The Gryffindor group of sixth years staggered back to their common rooms after the huge Hogwarts feast, pants a little tight.

"That was good." Peter concluded.

"I think that those house elves go all out on Saturday nights." Sirius said, patting his stomach.

"I'm not complaining." James said, smiling lazily.

The group walked in silence for a couple more moments before Alice said, "Where's Lily?"

"She went to go meet Korey again." Harmony replied.

"Because one whole day wasn't enough?" James muttered under his breath. Remus just patted him on the shoulder.

The group walked in an awkward silence the rest of the way to the common room, extremely aware of the whole James-loves-Lily-but-she-doesn't-feel-the-same issue.

When they got back to the common room, a blushing Alice walked over to her long time crush, Frank Longbottom. He smiled warmly when he spotted her. And of course, their conversation struck up immediately.

"That is so cute it hurts." Harmony commented to Sirius.

"A match made in Heaven!" He said dramatically.

Harmony laughed.

James and Remus went up to their dorm to study, although Harmony figured that James just wanted to sulk about his Lily-flower. Becca and Liven left to go 'chit-chat about girl things' as Liven put it when questioned by James.

That left Sirius, Peter and Harmony staring into the warm fire.

Sirius looked at Harmony.

Harmony looked at Sirius.

Peter looked at Harmony and Sirius.

It took him a couple moments to realize he wasn't exactly wanted for the conversation that was to come.

"I'll-uh, just go s-study..." Peter said, tripping over the carpet as he made his way to the stairs. Harmony laughed lightly because he was just too adorably awkward.

"So, uh," Sirius started. He looked in the fire again. "About what I told you today..."

"Sirius, I won't tell anyone. As you've most likely noticed, I'm not exactly a normal sixteen year old girl. I'm not really the gossiping type. Well, I like the gossip that's so ridiculous that it becomes hysterically funny." She smiled.

Sirius laughed. He got up from his squashy armchair and sat down next to Harmony on the red couch in front of the fire.

"Thanks." He said, flames casting shadows across his face; cheekbone here, eye there.

"I thought we were done with the deep stuff?" Harmony smiled again and nudged his shoulder with hers.

He grinned. "So Harms? Whatcha doing tonight? Anything exciting?"

Harmony turned to Sirius and considered him for a moment. "I guess I can trust you. Liven stole some firewhiskey from her parents. I think we're going to invade the stash early." Harmony grinned.

Sirius just laughed. "Rebel. I didn't know you had it in you!"

"You'd be surprised."

"Always am. I don't think I'll ever be able to go inside a broom cupboard voluntarily again. Well, not that I went in there voluntarily in the first place."

"Is ickle Sirius scared of fireworks?" Harmony grinned slyly, reaching into the upper area of her shirt and pulling out a small looking firecracker.

A deadly looking firecracker.

He looked from her face to the firecracker a couple times.

Sirius leaned over and whispered, "Two galleons if you'll throw it at that fourth year."

Harmony swivelled and followed Sirius' gaze.

It was *that fourth year.

Harmony turned and grinned wickedly. "I would have done that for free."

She whipped the firework in the general direction of the girl. To both Sirius and Harmony's astonishment, the firework landed right in between the girl and her friend.

Before Sirius could say anything about Harmony's aim, Harmony got up and subtlety walked by the girls' couch unknowingly to them.

She pointed her wand between the fourth years and shot a non-verbal spell at the firework. Water shot out and Harmony smiled wickedly.

As soon as the water hit the small-but-deadly firework, Harmony ran as far away as she could from the couch, still grinning.

Sirius almost felt a little bad for the fourth year as the firework completely blew up in her face.

Almost.

Every single person that was currently relaxing in the common room whipped their heads around to see what the sudden explosion was about. Their necks snapped to the scene so fast that Sirius was sure that they had to have all experienced some kind of whiplash.

Colours were whizzing, banging, blowing up, wailing, shooting and twirling through the air.

Sirius doubled over with laughter, falling on the floor while Harmony sunk down the wall, clutching her stomach as her body shook with silent laughter.

The fourth year looked outraged. Her rather unattractive face had tears running down it, she was so scared.

"You!" She screeched, pointing at Harmony.

Sirius got up, still laughing, and went to stand beside Harmony.

Immediately the fourth year girl backed off.

Harmony stood up in shock. That ninny still liked Sirius after he yelled at her this morning? What the hell?

"Oh-did you, uh, see that, Sirius?" the fourth year asked, frantically wiping the tears off her face so she didn't look like the little sissy that she was.

"Yeah, it was actually my idea. Harms here," he put an arm around Harmony's waist, yanking her to his side, "had the firework."

The young girl was busy patting down her hair, smoothing out the frizz. "What? Oh, yeah, sure."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

The girl realized that everyone was looking at her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"That's a lost cause." Harmony commented, gesturing to her hair.

"Oh shut up. At least I don't look like some sort of jungle princess who sets things in fire."

Harmony burst out laughing and Sirius snorted.

"I'm pretty sure that being called a princess no matter the corner of the world is a compliment." Harmony managed between chuckles.

"Besides, she's prettier than you by a million miles." Sirius smirked at the fourth year.

"That's such a fourth-year argument; you sound like a little girl, Sirius!" Harmony mock-hit him as she laughed. She turned to the fourth-year and saw her outraged expression. "Oh- so sorry. I actually meant to say- you foul being, Sirius Black!" She smiled.

The fourth year girl looked heartbroken. "This is not over, you freak!" She stormed out of the common room, her little group of friends scurrying after her and calling, "Tianna!" desperately.

Harmony watched where the girl, Tianna, disappeared. "Well. That was a bit dramatic."

The crowd chuckled and they eventually all turned back to their conversations. In no time, the common room was filled with meaningless laughter and joyous shouts once again.

Sirius awkwardly removed his arm from around Harmony's waist.

"Uh, thanks. Again." Harmony said as she smiled at Sirius. "Her face. Oh my gosh...that was so *hilarious!"

Sirius laughed, "She was crying!"

Harmony chuckled too. "She's even more of a sissy than you!"

He mock punched her arm.

"And I am also the proud new owner of two galleons." Harmony smirked, holding out her hand expectantly.

"Yeah yeah," Sirius dug in his pockets for a moment then produced a hand full of loose wizarding change. He plucked two shiny galleons out of the little mound of money. His hand hovered over hers for a moment, "On one condition; you spend this on something that will either light the school on fire or blow it up."

"Deal." She grinned, as he dropped the coins into her outstretched hand. "Well, I'm going to take a shower so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow."

He gave her a questioning look.

"I'm going to be so hungover." She clarified.

"Ah. It'll be worth it though." He smiled.

"Oh, I know." She shot him a winning smile and made her way up to their dormitory.

* * *

"Pass it here, Liven." Becca slurred slightly.

The girls were now pretty drunk, having gone through three bottles already. It was amazing how much firewhiskey Liven fit in her trunk.

They were all gathered around in a circle. Lily and Alice were snoring softly in their bunks. A silencing spell had even cast around the intoxicated group of girls so as not to wake the others up.

Harmony was the most drunk because she was the quickest to grab the bottle when it wasn't clutched in someone else's unstable hands.

"Nuh-Nuh. I don't think I'm going to share," Liven grabbed for the bottle in question.

While the two girls drunkenly started tackling each other, Harmony swiped the bottle from the ground next to Liven before it got knocked over, spilling their precious alcohol.

Since she had it in her hands, she took a hearty swig. "Bloody idiots." She mumbled, turning up the music from their little wireless radio that Beccca had bewitched to play, because it would have been otherwise impossible to use anything remotely electronic around Hogwarts.

Harmony stood up, unable to spend another minute with her two best friends who were fighting again.

As Harmony stumbled down the stairs, bottle clutched in her hands, she heard the banging and grunting stop for a minute, "Hey...where'd it go, Beccy?" Liven slurred.

"I think it walked away, little reindeer." Becca replied, and they both burst out in uncontrollable giggles, no doubt rolling in the ground.

Harmony fell down the rest of the stairs into the deserted common room. The fires were no longer roaring, the couches cold and uninviting, for once.

She stood there for a minute, holding herself up with the wall until she took another large gulp from the bottle and almost fell over again. She smiled slightly as she enjoyed the feel of firewhiskey burning her throat. It was like swallowing fire, she decided. It _was_ fire. Harmony liked to imagine it was fire.

Harmony decided to wander up the boys' staircase. Tripping and stumbling up the stairs, she managed to keep a hold on her bottle.

"Sometimes...the Romans...they like to build arches...and the muggles..." She sang idly, unaware that she was pretty much waking up all of Gryffindor tower.

Harmony crashed into the sixth year boy's dormitory, causing Peter to fall out of his bed in shock.

Remus, Sirius, James and Peter stared at her for a moment. They had all heard her coming up the stairs, of course, and had woken up.

Harmony looked at them under her dark eyelashes, before she lifted the bottle slowly to her lips and took a swig, her bright eyes trained on them the whole time.

"Hey, baby cakes." She tried to say seductively to no one in particular.

James and Sirius burst out laughing.

"Are you drunk, Harmony?" Remus asked, peering at her through sleepy eyes.

"Nah." She lost her balance and slammed her hand on the doorframe to keep her upright.

"Are you sure about that?" Sirius asked, grinning as he crossed his arms over his bare chest.

"I'm not sure about anything right now, to be honest, Siri-poo." Harmony grinned lazily and made her way over to the centre of the room, where three shirtless marauders stood. And one Peter in a pair of footie pyjamas his mother had made him.

Harmony took another drink from the bottle.

"What I want to know is how she made it up down and up two flights of stairs without dropping that bottle." Remus whispered to James, who snorted.

"That's an excellent question, Moony." James replied, his eyes still trained on Harmony.

"Look at you guys, all dulled up at this hour. I should have thought of that!" Harmony pinched James' cheeks with one hand while she gestured to his Quidditch-decorated pyjamas with the other hand, bottle still clutched in it.

"Uh, Harms? I think we should take this away for now." James dodged Harmony's fingers as she went up to harass his face again and gently tried to pry the bottle from her fumbling fingers.

"No!" She snarled, holding onto it with surprising strength for someone so drunk.

"Harmony, you're really, really drunk." Remus tried to reason.

"No no no! I only had a couple of sips." Harmony replied.

She stumbled over to the nearest bed and climbed onto it. She started jumping, firewhiskey spilling everywhere.

"Oh, man. She's pissssseeedd." Sirius commented.

"Don't stop the...party...yeah..." Harmony started dancing, falling all over the place as she tried to take another drink.

"She's going to kill herself." Remus said.

James and Remus went forward, "How are we going to get her down?"

They didn't have time to come up with a plan, however, because at that moment Harmony fell off the bed, clutching the near-empty bottle of alcohol with both hands and landing badly in the outstretched arms of James. Quidditch had made his reflexes much faster, thank goodness, or she would have knocked herself out cold. Well, Harmony was already on the path to doing that as long as the bottle was clutched in her fingers.

Harmony got up drunkenly. "I have to pee like a racehorse."

They all watched as she took another drink from the bottle and sang, "I got the urination sensation, bitches! I'll be back, I have to take a quick trip to the urination station." She cracked up at her own joke, and fell over again. "Shit, I'm hilarious!" Harmony got up, leaving the bottle on the floor, and and made her way into the bathroom.

"Where's she going to stay? She's surely going to pass out any minute." Peter asked.

"I don't fancy riding a broom into the girl's dormitory at this hour. Just think of Lily." James shuttered.

"She'll just stay here, I guess." Sirius said as he sat down on his bed near the window.

"What's this?!" came Harmony's excited voice from the washroom a minute later.

The boys looked at each other.

They heard a whirring sound and a scream.

Sirius burst out laughing and got up to go to rescue Harmony from his magical razor Mr Potter bought him for his sixteenth birthday last spring.

When he opened the door to the washroom, he doubled over in laughter again.

Harmony was hiding in the shower, the razor whirring and spinning like crazy on the counter.

He walked over and shut it off.

"My knight in shining armour!" Harmony lurched forward to Sirius, tripping over the side of the bath and getting tangled in the shower curtain.

He helped her up as she sang 'Mary Had a Little Lamb" at the top of her lungs.

As soon as the shower curtain was not twisted around her feet, she threw herself in Sirius' arms. "Oh thank you my sweet Siri-poo. You da bomb!"

Sirius snorted as he half carried her back into the room, where Peter fell back asleep in his bed and Remus and James were sitting on their own beds.

"Slumber party with my favourite Remi-poo and Jamesie-poo! Jamesie, Remi and Sirius poo! Oh man, I am funny!" She wiggled her hips in some sort of dance, celebrating her own wit.

Harmony detached herself from Sirius and launched herself at his bed, the only free one. "Oh, Petie-poo fell asleep! Too bad. We'll tell him all about our par-tay in the morning. Right, boys?" She sat up and looked at the remaining marauders with wide eyes.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, Harms." James replied.

Harmony suddenly looked heartbroken. "I want a hug. Can I have a hug?" She stood up unstably.

She stumbled over to Remus' bed and tackled the poor guy in a bear hug. He stood up, one arm around her waist and the other sending inappropriate hand gestures to the boys, who were shaking on the ground with silent laughter and hip thrusting to the thin air only to crack up even harder.

Harmony started twirling around. "Let's dance, Remi-poo!"

"Oh, man. I want to keep this moment forever." Sirius choked out.

Remus blushed furiously as Harmony planted a kiss on the side of his mouth.

"Let us tango!" She cried as she grabbed for Remus' free hand. He let her guide him around the room for a minute or two.

James grabbed her as she tripped over her own feet once again. "Oh James. Everyone is saving me tonight!" She paused and peered at his face. "Why do you have two heads? Oh-nope. Nevermind. You have one! My silly eyes are playing tricks on me!" She grinned and stumbled over to Sirius so she could harass him next.

After a little while of singing, laughing and saying things she probably would have never said if she was sober, Harmony's eyelids started to droop and she yawned loudly. "I'm just...so tired...all of the sudden..."

She swayed and Sirius caught her before she could bang her head on the dresser.

"You good, Padfoot?" James asked as he gestured to his own bed tiredly. It was now three am, an hour after she stumbled through the door of the marauder's dorm room.

"Yeah, she's gonna pass out. You guys go back to bed." Sirius replied, carrying Harmony by the waist to his bed as Remus as James pulled their covers over themselves.

"Sirius?" She mumbled as she was put gently down on the mattress.

"Yeah, Harms?" Sirius pulled the covers over her body.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He pulled a pillow off of Peter's bed and retrieved a blanket out of the dresser drawer. "No problem, Harms."

It was quiet for a couple of minutes, the sound of peaceful snoring and crickets outside filling the room.

"Sirius?"

"Mm?"

Harmony pulled herself out of bed with a pillow and a blanket and stumbled over to Sirius on the floor.

He opened his eyes as he watched her approach.

He sat up. "What're you doing?" He asked sleepily.

"I don't want to be alone." She slurred before crashing to the floor, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. Her breathing slowed down to soft huffs of warm air.

"Goodnight, Sea." He chuckled before falling into a deep sleep too.

* * *

Harmony opened her eyes the next morning, only to shut them quickly again. She became extremely aware of the pounding in her head and the blinding light streaming through the window. She also became aware of another warm body pressed against her's from behind.

She froze.

_What the hell?_

_Where was she?_

_Was she on the ground?_

_What happened last night?_

She scrambled to get out of the blankets twisted around her body, waking the person up behind her and giving them a face full of curly brown hair.

"What the-" came a deep, male voice.

She jumped up faster than the speed of light. Blinking stupidly at Sirius for a moment, she realized that he had no shirt on. "Shit-" she started before looking down at herself, making sure that she was fully clothed.

"What happened? Did we-" she started, gesturing between her and Sirius.

"No, no. You 'didn't want to be alone'. It's a marauder rule, actually. We don't do anything with girls if they're too drunk to think straight. We don't use people like that." Sirius stood up and stretched widely.

"Why the hell am I in here? What did I do?" Harmony demanded, trying too ignore her splitting headache. She sat down on the edge of a bed and put her fingers to her temples, eyes closed.

"What do you remember?" Sirius pulled open a drawer and threw a shirt on.

"Erm- falling down the stairs with a bottle...no idea who's stairs they were. And...a razor, I think..." Harmony shook her head and stared desperately at Sirius.

"It's okay, you just fell a couple of times...forced Remus to dance with you...got tangled in a shower curtain...sang a couple of songs...which I'm pretty sure you made up the majority of them...you're a pretty hilarious drunk." Sirius grinned.

"Shit." She blushed furiously. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's fine. You were pretty pissed, though. I'm proud, Sea." Sirius rummaged through the drawer next to the bed Harmony was sitting on. She assumed it must have been Sirius' because it smelled like him and he had his name engraved in the wood on his bedpost.

"Hey, where's Moony, Prongs and Wormtail? And what time is it?!" He paused and looked over at the clock that read one o'clock. "Shit, we slept in pretty late." Sirius commented and continued his digging through the drawer.

She smiled. "Drunk on the first Saturday night back at school. That's a little out of character for me."

Finally Sirius extracted a small vile that was full of light purple liquid. Sirius handed Harmony the little vile and looked up at Sirius questioningly.

"Relax, it's hangover potion, darling." Sirius gently nudged it into her hands.

She blushed when he called her 'darling' but took the potion anyway. "It tastes like horse shit."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You know what that tastes like?"

"No!" She swatted him as the potion kicked in immediately; the searing pain in her head turned into more like a dull ache and the churning in her stomach disappeared completely. Suddenly, noises didn't seem to loud; the lights weren't so bright.

"Thanks for the potion, Sirius." She rubbed her eyes as he nodded.

They were quiet for a minute.

"Oh my gosh! Lily! What's she going to say? Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Harmony suddenly jumped up, gripping a handful of hair in her hands.

"It's okay. I'm sure Remus will let her know you're fine."

"She's going to kill me! I got drunk and slept in close proximity of someone of the male gender!" She put a hand over her eyes.

"Harmony," Sirius yawned. "You're going to be fine. It's a Sunday."

He had a really attractive morning voice, Harmony noticed. It didn't help her in the current situation, whatsoever, though.

"What time did you say it was?" Harmony demanded.

"One. Everyone will be at lunch now so you can go change or whatever. I'll wait for you in the common room, if you want."

"Yes, please. I could really use a coffee from the kitchens right now." The thought of food made her stomach churn again; the hangover potion taking the pain away along with the desire to eat.

She jumped up and said, "Thanks so much, Sirius." She kissed him on the cheek swiftly as she dashed down the stairs.

When Harmony burst in her dorm, Lily was there alone reading a book.

"Lily!" Harmony yelped, eyes wide.

"Harmony. What were you thinking?" Lily asked exasperated as she dog-eared the corner of her page, running the tip of her green-nail-polish-clad finger along the crease.

"Listen, I'm sorry. It was one drink, then two, then three. I have no memory of how I got in the boys' dorm but I didn't do anything. Seriously." Harmony said in one breath.

"I know, I know. Remus informed me at breakfast." Lily laughed at the look on Harmony's face.

Harmony sighed in relief. "Okay, now that I know I'm going to live, I think I'm ready to face the world." Lily smiled at this comment. "Hey, why aren't you at lunch?"

"Honestly? It's Korey. He's driving me slightly mad. I really like him and all, but he's too clingy. I already spent Saturday with him, I want some time to myself!" Lily replied, putting her book on the side table of her bed and turning her body towards Harmony.

"Oh? Or is someone else catching your eye? Maybe a certain black-haired-hazel-eyed boy who holds open doors and compliments you on a daily basis?" Harmony dodged the pillow thrown at her by Lily.

"No!" She turned bright red despite her protest. Typical Lily.

The girls chit-chated while Harmony got changed and washed up.

"I'll be back in a little bit, Lils. I'm going to run down to the kitchens with Sirius." Harmony called as she grabbed her wand and left the dorm.

"See you!" Lily called back idly as she opened her book and started reading again.

Harmony got to the bottom of the staircase and smiled at Sirius waiting on the couch. "Lily was up there."

Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"She didn't kill me. Remus told her that I was alive and well this morning."

"You'd better thank him. After all, he's the one who you pretty much molested last night. And you made him do the tango. That was hilarious." Sirius commented as they made their way down to the kitchens by Harmony's request. Sirius proceeded to poke fun at her drunk state as she blushed furiously.

It was an odd pairing, the weird little bookworm and Hogwarts' most popular man-whore. It worked, though, somehow.

**A/N- Hello! Updates will come weekly now. The first few chapters came out ridiculously fast, I know. But this will probably be more like the speed I will be writing. I have school and social life here, too! Anyway, thanks for the followers and favouriters and reviewers!**


	6. Armoured Frights and Starry Nights

**October 31st**

Harmony burst open the door to the sixth-year boys' dorms, causing Sirius Black to scream like a little girl and cover his bare chest with a shirt.

The other marauders, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, were all standing by the doorway rolling their eyes at Sirius. They didn't even blink twice when Harmony burst through the doorway. It happened quite often and was usually followed by verbal violence. Sometimes physical violence, too. Depends on the type of door slam.

"_Why_ aren't you ready?" Harmony demanded, crossing her arms and glaring at Sirius. "Honestly, _Liven_ is faster. You're such a girl, Sirius."

James snorted.

"I'm working on it! Jeez, don't get your knickers in a wad." Sirius mumbled, throwing a hoodie on following his shirt.

"If only I was wearing knickers to get in a wad." Harmony commented idly, inspecting her fingers while leaning on the doorframe.

Sirius froze along with James and Peter, their mouths hanging open, eyes wide and looking at Harmony. Remus chuckled.

"Close your mouths, you'll catch flies." Harmony cracked a smirk and turned on her heels, walking back down the stairs.

When she got the the bottom, she muttered, "They're all like little horny chihuahuas."

Becca suppressed a smirk, having heard this comment. "What did you do now?" She whispered so Lily wouldn't hear.

"I told Sirius I wasn't wearing knickers to put in a wad."

Becca burst out laughing, causing Lily to look over.

The group's other two dorm mates were already at the Great Hall. Alice Prewett had gone down with her crush, Frank Longbottom, and Liven Pameo was off snogging some bloke from Ravenclaw. She'll probably show up half way through the Halloween feast, hair all over the place and clothes askew. Lily would lecture her at dinner for a half hour and then bombard her with questions later that night in their dorm.

About thirty seconds later, the marauders came down the stairs. Peter was still blushing and looking at Harmony. Becca giggled.

The group of eight made their way down to the Great Hall.

As Harmony walked contently beside Sirius, she pondered the group. It was now a well-known fact that Harmony and Sirius were pretty much best mates. That was old news. They had stopped receiving the envious stares and the little hisses of conversation whenever they walked down the hall together.

Harmony suspected it was mostly because Sirius shouted "Yes, we're mates. Get the hell over it!" at a group of girls who broke out in furious whispers when they spotted Sirius laughing at something Harmony said one afternoon. This was a few weeks back, and needless to say, the gossip pretty much ended there. Harmony was extremely grateful for this.

Sirius met her glance at him and he caught her eye and smiled. She blushed slightly and smiled back, but looked away and started cracking her knuckles, something she did when she was uncomfortable.

_Why was she even blushing_? Harmony thought.

A little voice in the back of her head said in an obvious tone, _It's Sirius Black. Who wouldn't blush?_

She blushed more and wished that the voice was a different person so she could stab it.

"What's up, Harmful?" Sirius asked, breaking her out of her internal cursing.

"Harmful?" She questioned, her blush fading from her cheeks.

"Yeah. It's your new nickname because you always have harmful items on you. And you just generally can cause harm anywhere to anyone." Sirius concluded, grinning and nudging her shoulder with his own.

"Hey! I only do that sometimes. When I want to." Harmony replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Only when you want to!" Sirius laughed. "Love, you cause harm unintentionally all the time."

"You're lying!" Harmony mock-glared at him, her hair falling into her face. She pushed it back irritably and huffed in annoyance.

Sirius smiled wider. "Remember that time last week when I might have picked you up forced your feet in the lake because you called me a hippogriff? And then the fireworks in your socks went off and shot at that boy sitting near us?"

"Shut up. That was your fault. If you didn't make my feet go in the lake then we wouldn't have had a problem." Harmony swung her hand to hit Sirius, but he dodged it, still grinning.

"Anyways, Harmful." _If looks could kill_. "What was that little look for?" Sirius asked, referring to Harmony's pondering, blushing, and that stupid little voice. He didn't know about that last part, obviously. Harmony would have pitched herself off the astronomy tower if he ever found out.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She decided to play innocent.

The blush on her cheeks gave her away.

"You're a bad liar." Sirius stated bluntly.

"_You're_ a bad liar!" Harmony retorted intelligently. She wasn't at the almost-top of most classes for nothing, after all.

Sarcasm. Total sarcasm.

"I'm a a _marauder_. Therefore, a fantastic liar. I told you your hair looked fine when you made me wait for you to go to class yesterday." Sirius grinned, waiting for Harmony to get the insult.

She stopped walking and turned slowly to him. "You are a terrible person. It _did_ look like a hippogriff trampled it, didn't it?!" Harmony tried to hit him again. Alas, she missed.

"Nah, just kidding. I like your crazy hair. It reflects your personality." Sirius tugged at a ringlet that touched the bottom of her back, making her shiver.

"That tickles!" Harmony complained, swatting his hand away. "And I'm just going to take your remark as a compliment. I don't think I can afford to miss another hit to your body. It's hurting my ego."

"Good choice." Sirius grinned and gave the small of her back a little push to get her moving forward again.

They caught up with the group as they entered the Great Hall. Becca and Remus were talking together, each of them blushing slightly.

Harmony jabbed Sirius in the ribcage, gesturing to the pair ahead as they sat down next to each other at the Gryffindor table.

"Look at their faces!" Harmony giggled.

"Icke Moony-kinz is growing up so fast." Sirius sighed dramatically as he too sat down at the table next to Harmony.

Harmony laughed as she waited for the food to fill the hungry students' plates. "So. What's the Halloween prank this year?"

"I can't tell you. It'll be wicked. Just wait." Sirius grinned.

"I hate waiting, you know that. You're such an arse." Harmony pouted as the plates suddenly filled with food and the sound of knives and forks scraping plates filled the hall.

"I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you. And I quite like you, surprisingly." Sirius didn't bother dodging the hit from Harmony. He just shovelled a forkful if food into his mouth.

Harmony wrinkled her face at him. "Why do you and James eat food like you'll never see it again?" She took a gulp of her pumpkin juice.

"You only live once, Harms." He replied before shoving a whole pork chop into his mouth, chewing loud and disgustingly for Harmony's sake.

"You're revolting." Harmony commented, taking a bite of her pasta.

"Nah, just hungry and under-mannered." Sirius replied between mouthfuls.

"You just made that word up now." Harmony accused. Sirius just grinned.

The magnificent feast carried on, the Great Hall ringing with laughter and buzzing with conversations about the Hogsmeade the following day.

"Gotta hot date for Hogsmeade, Harmful?" Sirius asked, referring to the next Hogsmeade date that was in a couple weeks.

"Nope. Isnt it a bit early to be asking though? It's like a month away. Its before Christmas break!" Harmony said. "And besides, I didn't want to outshine anyone with my good looks. Think of their ego if they caught sight of themselves standing in comparison to me?" Harmony grinned as she said this.

"Of course. How tragic." Sirius muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So you don't have a date, I don't have a date. You'll be coming with the rest of the marauders. And before you yell at me, James and I won't try to get you drunk." Sirius held his hands up as Harmony opened her mouth.

James and Sirius, after seeing a very drunk Harmony at the beginning of the school year, decided that she was a 'fun drunk' and relentlessly tried to spike her pumpkin juice or discreetly add firewhiskey to her morning coffee. Sirius almost ended up without a nose. And James without his, well, little friend.

"You better not. Or I'll really remove it this time." Harmony stabbed her fork in James' direction.

Sirius gulped. "We won't! There will be no need for that!"

"I sure hope not. I'm afraid Lily would be quite disappointed." Harmony grinned as she glanced over to where Lily was chit-chatting casually to James. Korey List, Lily's boyfriend, was murdering his broccoli with his fork and shooting daggers in James' direction. James noticed this, and was barely concealing a grin.

"Do you think they'll end up together?" Sirius asked Harmony.

"Yeah. They're perfect. Lily just doesn't see it." Harmony replied.

"Yet." Sirius smirked.

Harmony started humming under her breath as she merrily cut the rest of her food up into little pieces.

"Why are you doing that?" Sirius was looking at Harmony, eyebrows furrowed.

"Doing what?" Harmony put her fork down along with her knife.

"Playing with food. You're wasting it!" Sirius exclaimed, causing Remus to break his steady conversation with Becca to say, "Padfoot, shut up."

Sirius rolled his eyes and checked the watch on the fifth year boy's wrist sitting next to him. "It's time!" He hissed at his best mates across the table.

They stopped their conversation immediately and grinned, a scary glint in their eyes.

Sirius' grey eyes grew brighter, Harmony noticed, like they always did when he was about to do something mischievous.

The boys waited in anticipation, Sirius practically jumping off the bench. Every time he bounced his shoe hit the wood with a _bang bang bang_.

"Stop that!" Harmony shrieked in annoyance.

"Shh!" Sirius squeaked in excitement.

How very Peter of him.

Harmony grinned at her own thought.

Suddenly, the candles blew out in the Great Hall. Every single one at once. This was probably due to the fact that the large double oak doors at the entrance of Hogwarts had been blown open, the wind blowing the doors to hall open, too.

Shrieks echoed around the hall.

"Sirius!" Harmony whispered in alarm, grabbing his arm.

The hall was silent again, nervously wondering why their feast had been interrupted.

"Shh, it's fine." Sirius whispered in Harmoy ear, his breath cool against her skin. She shivered again, and not from the draft blowing through the doors.

A clanking noise was heard out the doors.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

Harmony smiled inwardly at Lily's hand that was clutching James shirt, his hand on her lower back.

_How cute is that?_

Stealing a glance at Dumbledore, his eyes twinkled in the dark and he was grinning. He turned and caught Harmony's eyes. He winked merrily and took a bite of lamb chop in anticipation.

Just then, a lone suit of armour appeared in the doorway of the Great Hall. The moonlight casting long shadows down the row of tables.

"You did this?" Harmony squeaked as she slid closer to Sirius on the bench, still gripping his shoulder for dear life.

"The other marauders helped." Sirius said, glancing into her eyes. His grey eyes were swirling with excitement, and were practically glowing in the dark along with Dumbledore's.

The suit of armour stopped walking for a moment. Then it broke the silence of the hall with a cold hiss. "_Tianna_."

A shriek came from the other end of the Gryffindor table, followed by several more shrieks as suits if amour materialized out of thin air all around the Great Hall's walls.

"Wholy shit!" Harmony jumped about four feet in the air as one appeared right behind her, looking down at her.

She felt like it was looking into her sole, even though the thing didn't even have eyes.

Screams echoed around the hall as people scrambled around, trying to get away from the suits of armour that were trying to follow them, hissing and whispering their names in cold, lifeless voices.

Harmony was _so_ going to have nightmares about this.

"Sirius! Shit, I'm scared!" Harmony launched herself in Sirius' arms as the suit of armour whispered in a silky voice, "_Harmony_."

He scrambled up, seeing how Harmony was terrified. Harmony's face was buried in his neck. He still had a free hand that wasn't around Harmony's back, and he half-heartedly high-fived his mates on the successful prank as he made his way out of the Great Hall.

Sirius fought his and Harmony's way through the crowd of screaming, (some) laughing, and the mad scrambles of people frantically trying to get away from the talking armour. The hall was still in complete darkness spare the moonlight and stars twinkling from above.

Finally, Sirius got himself and Harmony out of the hall. Her face was still buried in his neck, arms folded against his chest, and eyes tightly shut.

"Harms. You're out. It's okay." Sirius soothed, despite his grinning face.

That prank was _so_ going to be worth the punishment. And the endless hours of planning and researching.

Harmony shook her head from the crook of his neck. She was actually genuinely frightened. This wiped the smile off Sirius' face pretty quick.

He heard a clanking from directly behind him. He cursed silently under his breath as Harmony shot out of his arms, screaming in terror and bolting for the nearest corridor. She was a pretty fast runner, Sirius noted.

"Beat it! Go scare someone else!" Sirius yelled at the armour that has stopped hissing, "_Harmony_." and was now repeating, "_Sirius_." as it advanced on the sixteen year old boy.

Sirius had to admit, it was slightly terrifying.

Good thing it'll only last for a minute or so more.

Sirius vaguely registered the screams echoing around the Great Hall. It was an uproar in that place.

So naturally, being Sirius-the-manliest-man, he bolted down the way Harmony went, leaving the old hunk of metal behind him.

He stopped running and listened for any signs of Harmony. He walked slowly down the hallway while pondering why she was reacting like this to the prank. It was out of character for Harmony to run away, screaming in terror from anything except spiders.

Finally, he heard panting coming from the end of the corridor he was currently walking down. He spotted her frame leaning against wall near the window, eyes shut tightly and hands in her hair. She was muttering to herself.

"Harms?" Sirius asked softly.

Harmony jumped when she heard a voice, but then realized it was just Sirius.

He held his arms open to her as she threw herself in them, burying herself in the crook of his neck once again. He got a face full full of hair, but was too concerned and confused as to why she was shaking like a leaf, to care about the stands of hair attacking his face.

She was so pressed against him that he could feel her cheekbone imprinting his chest.

"I-I'm okay." Harmony stammered after a while, once the shaking calmed down a bit.

"Harms, I wouldn't have done it if I knew you were going to react like that. I'm so sorry." Sirius said sincerely, his grey eyes clouded with concern.

"You didn't k-know." Harmony shivered in her loose fitting t-shirt.

Sirius tried going for the comedy approach. "This is going to sound tacky, Harmful, but you need to take my sweater. You're freezing."

A light smile grace her lips and she muttered, "M'okay."

"No, you're not." Sirius pulled off his big, old hoodie and gave it to Harmony. "Here."

She pulled it over her head and inhaled the scent of cologne and Sirius. He assisted her in pulling her dark curls out from under the fabric.

Harmony blushed, thankful that it was dark. "Thanks, Siri-poo."

Sirius laughed. "Don't mention it, Harmful."

Harmony looked out the window at the clear night sky, searching the stars, counting, reading constellations. She felt the breeze blow her hair, blowing that one annoying curl away from her eyes again. It was calming, quiet, peaceful.

The pair of sixth-year Gryffindors stood like that for another moment before Sirius broke the silence again. "Harmony?"

"Yeah, Sirius?" She questioned, dragging her eyes from the stars outside the window to the eyes of Sirius. They were so dark in the cool corridor that it was just like looking into a cloudy night, the flicks of silver being the stars still shining faithfully behind the clouds.

He was about to ask her why in the world she got scared, but decided against it, unable to see the fear in her face again.

Sirius studied her green-brown eyes, glowing in the darkness, down to the line of her cheekbones, to her mouth and her straight teeth just visible behind her lips and back to her eyes again. "I'm assuming you don't want to go back into the Great Hall?" He said instead.

She shook her head automatically, then stopped. "Well, sorry, if you want to-"

Sirius cut her off. "No, no. I'm fine." He smiled down at her. "Let's go somewhere. I know just the place!" He grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him forcefully.

She allowed a smile to grace her lips as she considered her relationship with Sirius. He was probably now a closer friend than even Becca. Honestly, she felt like she could share everything with this boy.

Who would have thought?

If someone told her a year ago that a year later she would be this close to Sirius, she would have hexed them and suggested a local mental hospital.

But now?

This friendship was rapidly growing. In a matter of two months she had became best mates with the most popular womanizer at Hogwarts.

It was a weird feeling, but a natural one.

Finally Sirius arrived at their destination. The astronomy tower.

Harmony almost burst into tears at the very sight of the stars twinkling above, glinting like diamonds against the dark contrast of never-ending space.

"Look at them!" Harmony squealed and jumped around.

They suddenly seemed a billion times more beautiful with Sirius there, for some reason.

"I know. They're brilliant." Sirius whispered. His hands were deep in his pockets as he looked up the heart-stopping, mouth-dropping sky. He suddenly looked down at Harmony, right in her eyes; a cloudy dark sky meeting a forest at night. His eyebrows were furrowed, Harmony noticed.

"Sirius?" Harmony asked quietly, her smile vanishing. "What's wrong?" She walked up to him and looked up at his face.

"Harmony. I'm going to show you something. But I need you to promise me first." He looked down to her face and pulled a hand out of his pockets to catch a curl before it covered Harmony's eyes. He moved it back behind her ear.

"What is it, Sirius? What's the promise?" She asked, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach caused by Sirius' fingers brushing her blushing cheek.

"I need you not to tell anyone, okay? Promise me?" Sirius asked sincerely, looking into her strikingly beautiful face.

Woah woah woah.

Beautiful? Sirius thought she was beautiful now? Harmony Sea?

Yeah. Yes, he did. But hey. He thought a lot of girls were beautiful.

_Not like Harmony beautiful. _The little voice inside Sirius' head commented.

What the heck? Where was this coming from? They were _mates_.

"I promise, Sirius." She whispered back, breaking Sirius from his sudden thoughts. His confused thoughts.

Then to Harmony's surprise, Sirius stepped away from her. "Sirius?" She questioned, holding that same curl back from her face as the wind tried to blow it free from her fingers.

He sent her a steady look that she couldn't decipher. She didn't get the chance to try, however, because suddenly Sirius wasn't standing in front of her. It was a large, shaggy black dog standing on four furry legs calmly looking at a stunned Harmony.

Harmony froze, staring at the big dog in complete shock. She then realized that the dog's coat was the same shade as Sirius' black waves, the dog's eyes the same stormy grey eyes that she was just looking into a moment ago.

"Sirius?" She questioned timidly, stepping forward the tiniest bit.

The boy in question appeared again before her.

"You're-" she started.

"-an animagus, yeah. So are James and Peter. Remus is-" Sirius was cut off.

"-a werewolf. And so you guys-" Harmony was cut off, too.

"-became illegal animagi to help him on full moons, yeah." Sirius shrugged nervously, burying his hands in his pockets again and looking at Harmony.

"Sirius Black. You are officially one of the most irresponsible, daring reckless, and perfect people I have ever met." Harmony stated.

Perfect, was he?

Yup. He could definitely live with that.

Sirius grinned, knowing that she was okay that he broke the law and ran around with a werewolf every month.

"Don't I know." He said cockily, referring to the 'perfect' comment.

She rolled her eyes but threw her arms around his neck regardless. "You trust me enough to tell me this?" She muttered.

"Harms. You're my best friend. I had to tell you. I'm glad you already knew about Remus, though." Sirius face was buried in her neck. It smelt like a summer's day and mischief and gunpowder all mixed in one. It was so _Harmony_.

"Thanks, Sirius." She smiled into his chest. A warm, pleasant feeling spread from her chest outward when Sirius said 'best friends'.

They were quiet for a moment. Each comfortable in each others arms, looking up into the stars.

Or otherwise known as 'holes into the Heavens themselves' as Harmony referred to the stars.

"It's always been a fear." Harmony blurted suddenly. "Darkness. Things emerging from the darkness, pulling me, touching me, whispering things to me in the darkness. I have nightmares about that stuff. I used to wake up screaming my lungs out that there was something in the dark. Still do sometimes, truthfully." Harmony confessed. "Don't you go apologizing. You didn't know, Sirius." Harmony said because she felt him suck in a breath as his jawline brushed her neck, opening his mouth to say sorry again.

"I'm still going to say it anyway; I'm sorry." he said.

"I didn't know you had this whole sensitive side, Black." Harmony pulled out of the embrace. "It's kind of nice. And a bit odd, to be honest."

Sirius grinned. "Thanks, I guess." Then he added on, "I reserve it for special people."

Harmony did that little grin where one side of her mouth perked up more than the other. She laughed. "My friendship with you seems to deep sometimes. I rarely have deep conversations with anyone. But there's something different about you, Sirius Black." She wagged a finger at him mockingly, like a mother would do.

"I'm touched! Am I special to you too?" Sirius asked, face lighting up like a child in a candy store.

"Sure you are, Kid." Harmony ruffled his hair which caused him to squeal and dodge her hand. Sirius' fingers shot up to fix his perfect waves.

"Now _I_ look like a hippogriff stomped on my head." He muttered.

"Nah. You look fine." Harmony turned from him to hide her smile. When it started to hurt her cheeks, she decided to grin evilly at the grass down below the Astronomy Tower rather than a certain messy black haired sixteen-year-old boy.

Sirius stopped attacking his hair and turned to Harmony. "Are you sure?" He asked worriedly, patting his hair again.

"You look beautiful, Siri-poo." She said, laughter lacing her voice.

"You're lying!" He exclaimed.

"Nah." She brushed it off. A snort escaped her.

"Harmony Sea!"

"See? I am a good liar!" Harmony did a little victory dance with her hips.

"You did that same dance when you were drunk at the beginning of the year." Sirius grinned at her then leaned over the wall of the tower to look down below.

Harmony blushed. "Let's not talk about it, please."

Sirius just laughed.

"I reckon we should get back, Pups." Harmony yawned.

"Pups?" Sirius asked, an eyebrow raised.

Harmony grinned. "What time is it?"

"Uh-" Sirius checked his watch. "Almost eleven." He concluded.

"Lily!" Harmony groaned. That fiery red head was going to skin them and eat their remains for being out after curfew.

"Wanna run?" Sirius asked like a little kid.

"Yeah I do!" Harmony replied excitedly and bolted off towards the common room.

The odd pair of sixth-years ran, laughter and panting echoing around the hallways as they stumbled up stairs and tripped over rugs. Harmony even ran into a few suits or armour which made her scream.

They got back to the common room at quarter after, clutching their stomachs from laughing and wincing at the stitches in their sides.

"_Well, it's about time!_" A shrill voice came from by the fireplace.

The pair looked up and immediately wished they hadn't.

Lily Evans herself stood up and advanced on the terrified Sirius and Harmony.

"Er, goodnight ladies! Thanks for tonight, Harms." Sirius called as he bolted up the stairs of the boys' dorms.

"_What_ exactly was he thanking you for, if you don't mind me asking?" Lily screeched.

"Mind out of the gutter, Lils!" Harmony held her hands up. "We just went up to the astronomy tower and talked for a while. Deep stuff. Don't worry about it." She added on or Lily would surely drill her for information.

"Do _not_ let me catch you out after curfew again." Lily pointed a finger t Harmony.

"Okay, Mum. You won't catch me, I'll be careful." Harmony said sincerely.

Lily pondered the wording or a moment and found the loophole. "Correction. You will not _be out_ after curfew again."

"No promises." Harmony saw the look on Lily's face and then said, "Whew! Look at that time! I'm off to bed, Lils. Love ya!" Harmony copied Sirius and bolted up the stairs of her own dorm room, the girl whose head was flaming (red hair pun intended) hot on her heels.

**A/N Well. That took a lot of inspiration. I planned out the next few chapters, so I'll have a general direction about what the heck I'm writing about. Because up until now, I just sort of went with it. Whatever, it's not a bad thing, is it?**

**Anyway. Sirius and Harms are getting a little more serious. (Haha, pun intended on Harmony's part.)**

**Thanks to all my story followers, reviewers, and favouriters! Fanfiction was having some troubles, so that is part of the reason it has been over a week since I have uploaded**.


	7. Break-ups and Make-up

Break-ups and Make-up

Harmony Sea of Gryffindor bolted from the Transfiguration classroom as she grabbed her bag and ran to the Great Hall, one of her best mates, Sirius Black, barely keeping up with her.

"What's the rush, Harmful?" He whined while tripping over a first year. The poor little bloke went flying into a suit of armour, knocking it over. Laughter rung around the corridor.

"Caffeine." She mumbled in reply, hardly giving Sirius a glance.

"We had a spare first thing! Did you not sleep in?" Sirius asked in disbelief as the pair entered the Great Hall.

"Hardly. Not with Lily around, anyway." Harmony stopped and searched for an empty seat at the Gryffindor table. "_'Wake up! Spares are for studying, not sleeping!'_" Harmony said in a poor attempt at Lily's voice.

Sirius just laughed. "It's funny because it's true." He said quickly at Harmony's glare. "Right. Why don't we get you some coffee, yeah?" He placed a hand on Harmony's back and guided her to an empty spot.

The Great Hall was filled with laughter and loud, mindless chatter. Harmony suddenly felt an odd surge of affection towards Hogwarts.

Where would she be without this place? She had made some of the best memories in this place. Best friends. Best grades. Best years of her life.

Still, it's hard to love Hogwarts sometimes when a whole crap load to teenagers have been locked up inside a castle for months together. The gossip gets ridiculous.

Harmony, James and Sirius made up a game that on every Friday, they meet up and share only the most far-fetched and hilarious pieces of gossip they heard throughout the week to each other.

Harmony's leading one this week was some fifth year's: Tianna Longe, (an annoying fourth year with a huge crush on Sirius Black and a hate for Harmony Sea) snuck out of the castle and smuggled firewhiskey in last Saturday night and after she was pretty drunk, snogged a seventh year in a broom cupboard. Now here's the crazy part: the seventh year's girlfriend (both people unknown) had walked in on the scene and Tianna had beat her up and hexed her on the spot, no hesitations.

There were three things that had Harmony concealing a laugh. One: the only working passageway out of the castle was in use that night by none other than Harmony herself. Two: Harmony and the marauders _might_ have been at the Three Broomsticks that night (one of the only places to buy alcohol) and didn't see any sign of Tianna. And finally three: Tianna beating someone up? While drunk? That's a joke. She can't even do it sober.

The snogging-a-seventh-year part wasn't that much of a shocker because he was probably half blind and only looking for someone who wears their shirt down to their belly button, showing off an impressive amount of chest-acne.

As Harmony finally poured herself a cup of that beautiful coffee and added a bit of cream and sugar, she moaned in pure delight as the caffeine started to kick in a couple of moments later.

Sirius grinned while giving her a questionable look.

Harmony muttered, "Mind out of the gutter, dog."

She heard a snort behind her and turned slightly to see Remus sit down on her other side.

"Alright Harms, Padfoot?" He asked while piling food onto his plate.

"Swell." Harmony replied before taking a deep gulp out of her coffee mug and then grabbing a roll from the basket in front of her.

"That sounds like it came from the heart." Remus commented.

Harmony ignored this and tried her hardest to also ignore the disgusting sounds of Sirius stuffing his face full of food. Let's just say it was easier said than done.

"Where's James?" She asked Remus in an attempt to block out Sirius.

"Just coming in now." He replied pointed towards the grand double doors of the hall.

"He looks..." She trailed off and snuck a glance at the Ravenclaw table, where Lily Evans was leaning on her boyfriend Korey List. His arm was tightly around her waist in a protective gesture. Korey turned, saw James' stare and smirked, flipped the bird to the single marauder and turned back to his lunch.

Oooh. Harmony was _so_ going to have a talk with a certain red-haired Lily Evans and her slimy little git of a boyfriend.

"That little-" Harmony started and stood up but before she could leave the table, she was yanked back down by both Sirius and Remus who were evidently watching the scene too.

James sat down glumly across from them and glared down at his plate, as if it was the reason Lily Evans didn't feel the same love for James Potter as he did for her.

Harmony reached across to swipe up James' mug and pour a cup full of coffee in it. She did it all so smoothly. Almost like a professional who has had lots of practice.

Every day about three to seven times a day, actually.

James lifted his sad, hazel eyes to meet hers and muttered, "Thanks."

Before he could look back down, Harmony grabbed his hand and squeezed it a little. "She'll come around, James."

He just nodded.

Awkward silence commenced.

Harmony waited for Sirius to take a bite out of his pork-chop before aiming a kick at his shin.

Good thinking, because the food muffled his shriek.

"What the hell?" Sirius mouthed at her.

She nodded her head in James' direction and took another bite from her roll.

"Er," Sirius started, eyes sliding over to Harmony uncertainly. "When's the Quidditch match again, Prongs?"

James' eyes lit up excitedly. "The Saturday after Christmas break!"

The two launched into Quidditch conversation enthusiastically.

Harmony smiled slightly as scanned the hall for something interesting. Twice, her gaze swept over the Slytherin table before she realized someone was gazing back.

Someone_s_, actually.

There, a mob of the seventh and sixth-year Slytherin rumoured Death Eaters huddled around their obvious ringleader, Avery. Altogether there were five blokes huddled around Avery; Mulcier, Nott, Travers, Snape, and Rosier.

Harmony's stomach churned just thinking about them, and what they can do...and have done.

But no way was she going to back down from those murderers.

Her eyes narrowed and took on a challenging look as she scanned each of their faces, finally resting on Severus Snape's. His eyes bored into hers and she was reminded forcefully of when he had hurt Lily beyond repair and tried to brush it off.

Well, he tried to brush it off until he couldn't take it and camped outside of the Gryffindor portrait hole for a couple nights and Harmony, Becca, Liven and Alice forcefully threw Lily out and told her to tell him to leave. He did, in the end.

Harmony's eyes purposely slid toward Lily's back. Snape followed her gaze and stiffened when he saw the beautiful red-head. He dropped his gaze.

"Harms," Sirius whispered in her ear, causing her eyes to drop from the group of Slytherins down to her lap. "Why are they looking at you?"

"I don't know." She replied truthfully.

"I can stop them, you know." Sirius said, sizing them up.

_"You will do nothing of the sort!"_ Harmony hissed.

"Fine." He looked grudgingly down to his empty plate.

"I don't want you starting something over nothing, Sirius." She patted his shoulder. "But thanks."

He nodded and went back to refilling his plate.

The Slytherins kept on whispering and staring at Harmony.

Harmony stared back.

Finally Sirius said, "Ready for Potions, Harmful?"

She nodded and gathered her stuff, breaking eye contact again with the Slytherins.

The pair of sixth-year Gryffindors made their way to the double doors to exit the Great Hall. The Slytherin group was still hissing furiously to each other and watching Harmony like their life depended on it. Avery was smirking evilly and nodding.

So, Harmony couldn't resist shouting, after a quick look to the staff table, "DON'T LOOK SUSPICIOUS GUYS! PEOPLE MIGHT THINK YOU'RE UP TO SOMETHING!" She then proceeded to shoot the group of shocked Slytherins the middle finger and grin wickedly.

Sirius shoved her out of the laughter-filled hall roughly and yanked her into a broom cupboard by the waist.

"Do you want to _die_?" He yelled at her in the darkness.

Harmony leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "They were pissing me off."

"So you do _that_? You just gave a bunch of Death Eaters the finger, Harmony!" Sirius grabbed his hair.

"You're such a wuss! I'll be fine!" Harmony shouted back.

"You should have let me and James deal with it!" Sirius placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What, you don't think I'm capable of sticking up for myself?" Harmony stepped away from his hands. She was getting mad now.

He crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his eyebrows. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh, that's a relief. Because it _sure_ sounded like it." She replied sarcastically.

"Harmony-" Sirius tried to start.

Harmony cut him off. "You of all people I thought would laugh. Not drag me in a broom cupboard and yell at me."

"I would have laughed my head off if it wasn't aimed at a bunch of Death Eaters who have committed murder and are three times your size!" Sirius threw his arms in the air.

"They wouldn't do anything to me under Dumbledore's eye, Sirius." Harmony said, eyes narrowed.

"How do you know, Harmony? Let's be realistic." He leaned closer to Harmony. "They don't even need Hogwarts anymore. If they get expelled they'll just run off and serve Voldemort earlier than planned! Punishments aren't stopping them!" He finished shrilly.

"Sirius! It's not just the punishments, it's Dumbledore! They wouldn't do anything with him around. If Voldemort's scared of him, then they sure as hell are too!" Harmony yelled, leaning closer to Sirius too.

"You just told me not to start something out of nothing; you're being hypocritical! Now you've gone and pissed them off just because they were looking at you!" Sirius groaned.

"I'm fighting my own battles, Sirius. I can handle myself." She hissed.

"Forgive me for being concerned about you!" Sirius yelled sarcastically, whipping his head back.

Gryffindor versus Gryffindor fights are always a sight to see.

Harmony banged open the door to the closet and strode out.

"Harmony-" Sirius tried to grab her arm but she shook it off.

"Leave me alone, Black." She whipped around with her wand out.

"I'm trying to help you and you're just being a _bitch_!" Sirius yelled.

His words hit her like a slap in the face. She lowered her wand, closed her mouth and stepped away from him, processing what he just said.

"Harms-" he started again, his voice softer and thick with guilt.

She was already gone, shoving her way roughly through the little crowd of people who had gathered around the cupboard.

Harmony furiously held back tears of anger and shock as she dropped her bag behind a tapestry. She sprinted deep into the heart of the castle, turning random corners and slipping through passageways, no particular destination in mind. She tried not to think about her friends or the marauders or a certain Sirius Black that was sitting glumly in the back of a smelly Potions classroom, wishing she were with him.

* * *

Harmony got back to her dorm later that night, after skipping all three afternoon school periods and dinner. She was kind of hungry and had no where to go after setting the room of requirement on fire no less than twenty-three times before the room formed a wall and it pushed her out the door. She was so shocked that she temporarily forgot about the burning match in her hand at the time. Ouch.

Needless to say, Harmony trudged up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower with blistering burns, a rumbling stomach, an angry mind and a heart a bit hurt.

How would _you_ feel if your best friend called you a bitch in front of a crowd of people? Or just called you a bitch at all?

Yeah, _not_ like a million galleons.

She walked past the last group of people in the common room without a even a glance in their direction and continued up the stairs to her dorm.

Harmony burst through the door and found her four dorm mates all sitting cross-legged on Lily's bed and in a deep, whispered conversation. They were now looking at her wide-eyed.

Before any of them could say anything to her she snapped, "You better be discussing how much of a prick he is."

Liven looked to her friends before she said cautiously, "Harms, it wasn't the smartest thing to say to those Slyth-"

"Save it." She hissed. "And you lecturing me, of all people."

"There was no need for that, Harmony. Just because you and Sirius had a little fight-" Becca started cooly.

"A little fight? That's not little! He called me a bitch and it _hurt_! He had no right sticking his ass all up in my issue with the Slytherins at that point! It's not even an issue! It's nothing! I gave them the finger, so what? It's not a big deal!" Harmony banged her head on Alice's bed post, willing herself not to kill anyone. She took a deep breath and let her heart ache just a little at the word _bitch_. But only a little, because being called a bitch is _not_ something to mull over like a twelve-year-old.

"Harms." Liven came over and hugged Harmony.

"I'm sorry." Harmony mumbled in a quiet voice.

"It's fine, okay? We brought you coffee." Liven pulled out of the embrace and grabbed a mug off the dresser.

It was surprisingly still warm in Harmony's fingers.

"Becca put a warming charm on it." Liven explained.

"Thank you, guys." Harmony said sincerely, suddenly exhausted.

She took a sip of her coffee and looked into the faces of her mates. "Okay, so you need to sit down on my bed and we're going to do your make-up." Becca declared suddenly, talking to Harmony.

"You're-what? Sorry?" Harmony asked, confused.

"You look like hell. We're going to do your make-up and be giggley and silly and be stereotypical girls, okay?" Liven replied for Becca.

"Dibs on eyes!" Lily screeched as she ran to the bathroom to get the huge bag of cosmetics from under the sink.

Harmony laughed and wiggled out of her school shirt and skirt, putting on her favourite sweatpants and t-shirt.

"One more day that I have to go to Potions in the freezing dungeons wearing a skirt and I'm going to hex someone's brains out." Harmony complained to Alice, crashing onto her friend's bed.

Alice just giggled and hugged Harmony. "No Slytherins, okay?"

Harmony grinned with her eyes closed. "Ah, no promises, Alice dear."

Alice just rolled her eyes.

"So. Frank Longbottom." Harmony sat up and smiled, ear to ear, as Alice blushed Gryffindor red.

"Oh Harmony." She jumped slightly in excitement. "He asked me to Hogsmeade after class today!"

"_What?! _Alice!" Harmony squealed. "You're going to get married and kiss and do inappropriate things and have little Alice-Frank babies and they'll be so cute and I'll babysit!"

"Harmony!" Alice blushed deeper but added, "You really think so?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh please let me be a bridesmaid!" Harmony grabbed Alice's hands and sang, "Alice and Frank, together at last, forever after, sharing...baths?"

The pair burst into loud laughter, earning odd looks from Lily, Becca and Liven who resided in the bathroom planning out Harmony's new (temporary) face.

* * *

After many 'ouch!'s, 'shut up's and 'don't move, Harmony's, she was finished.

"You look amazing!" Alice squealed.

"Give me a mirror. Let's see what you did to me." Harmony sighed.

Lily beamed and handed her a mirror.

Harmony studied her reflection; dark, mysterious eyes, the illusion of killer-amazing cheekbones, and lips that were just left alone.

"What do you think?" Becca asked excitedly.

"I think you did a great job." Harmony cracked a smile. She really didn't like getting make-up caked on her face very much, but she would never tell them that now.

Lily laughed. "I know. Can we do it like this for graduation?" She asked eagerly, her large, emerald green eyes wide.

"In two years? Sure, Lils." Harmony smiled.

"Let me take a picture!" Liven cried as she pounced on her trunk and pulled a big camera out of it. She leaned in and together the girls laughed and made faces, holding the brushes up and doing insane dances.

"I have never felt more girly in my entire life." Harmony concluded.

"It's fun to be immature again! I feel twelve and I love it!" Lily exclaimed.

"Too bad it's a school night. And as much fun as I've had with you beautiful ladies, I need my sleep. And let's all agree that it will be hard enough getting Miss Sea out of bed without staying up even later." Becca yawned.

"True true." Lily sighed and crashed on her four-poster bed.

"Okay, I'm going to wash my face and teeth. Thanks for tonight, girlies." Harmony walked to the bathroom and closed the door. She washed her face off and was sort of sad to see the make-up go. She had just made another memory at Hogwarts and she didn't want it to end. But all good things end.

After Harmony brushed her teeth, she climbed into bed and listened to the soft snores of her best friends as they drifted off to sleep. She looked out the window and gazed at the stars.

One in particular, actually.

One named Sirius.

What she did with the girls was fun, and she loved them for it. But Sirius. _Sirius_. She had almost forgotten for a moment. She was hurt. She hated not talking to him. It was their first fight of the friendship. (How's that for an alliteration, huh?)

After a while, Harmony concluded that she really, really could not sleep. So, as quiet as a mouse, she crept out of her dorm with a novel and tiptoed down the stairs.

The common room was deserted, not a soul sitting on the couches or lounging by the fire. Harmony made her way over to a swishy armchair directly in front of the fire and curled up with her book.

After about a half hour, she heard the light paddle of feet on stairs. Her heart jumped into her throat at the sudden noise.

A figure appeared at the bottom of the boy's staircase. He scanned the room before his gaze stopped on Harmony curled in the armchair.

Harmony watched as Sirius approached. She was too tired to be mad. She didn't want another fight. His eyebrows were furrowed and he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Her eyes flicked to his stormy grey ones for a second and back down to the page of her book, reading the same sentence over and over, not paying attention to one single word.

Sirius studied Harmony's face. The flames were flickering in her eyes and shadows were slipping across her face; jaw here, cheekbone there. Her eyelashes were casting long shadows on her cheek, and her lips were pressed together.

"Harmony." Sirius whispered while moving that one curl away from we face again and tucking it behind her ear. She froze. Her eyes were loosely focused on one word, and she still wasn't processing it.

"Yes, Sirius?" She replied quietly, moving her head to look into the fire. Flames danced in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, okay? You know I didn't mean that." He whispered, placing a hand on her cheek and guiding her eyes to his.

She nodded. "I'm sorry too." And to Sirius' shock, her eyes filled with tears.

"Hey, hey." He said soothingly, wiping away the one tear that she let escape by accident.

"It _hurt_, Sirius." She said, in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Believe me, I know. It really won't happen again. I didn't mean it, you know I could never think of you like that. You're as far from a bitch as one can be, Harms. Seriously." Sirius cupped her cheek.

She laughed lightly at the name pun, wiping away another tear. "Today...it made me realize what is really going on. I pissed of Death Eaters, Sirius. I'm a _muggleborn_. My family...what if they target my family? This war isn't shits and giggles anymore. People are _dying_." Harmony whispered the last part.

"I know, Harmony, I know. We'll go to Dumbledore tomorrow and see if the Ministry can put extra enchantments around your house, okay? Keep your friends close. It'll be over soon, I hope." Sirius patted the spot beside him.

Harmony got up, leaving her book on the chair and went to sit beside Sirius. She curled up next to him and eventually her eyes got heavier and heavier before she fell asleep, the silhouette of the dancing flames burning behind her eyelids.

* * *

She was woken a while later by Sirius. "It's like two am, Harms. We both fell asleep." He traced the red, warm line imprints his t-shirt left on Harmony's cheek.

She blushed and stood up to stretch. "I'm so tired." She muttered.

Sirius put an arm around her and guided her over to the girls' dormitory staircase.

They approached the bottom of the staircase and he wrapped both arms around Harmony. "I'm still going to protect you, even if you're a kick-ass dueller and don't need my help. I, most likely along with James, would be completely unable to stand back and watch you fight alone. I'm the sort of person that needs to be in the _action_!"

"I know, Sirius. And I'm really thankful for that, even if I didn't sound like it earlier. I assure you that you're my true knight in shining armour." She chuckled and rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around Sirius in return.

"Talking armour?" Sirius questioned, referring to her little anxiety attack from the marauders' Halloween prank back in October.

"Don't talk about it!" She squeaked, as if one of the empty suits of armour stationed around Hogwarts would hear and come after her again.

Sirius laughed and loosened his hold on her waist to look in her face. He took one hand up and twirled a curl between his fingers, then leaving it to rest on Harmony's shoulder again.

All joking was gone from their eyes as Sirius lightly trailed his fingers to her face all the while watching her glowing eyes, tracing the line of her cheekbone to her jaw. He continued on down past her shoulder, down her spine, leaving a trail of goosebumps.

His hand rested on the small of Harmony's back as she leaned ever so slightly into Sirius. He leaned in too.

Closer. Closer.

Their faces were so close now. Their bodies were so close now. Harmony could feel Sirius' soft, warm breath on her lips.

Sirius tilted his head to the side slightly, still leaning in, his eyes now trained on her lips. Her face felt warm and flushed and her heart was pounding out of her chest.

Shit.

_Shit_.

Was he going to-

Were they-

His lips were right there-

She would just have to close the gap.

Did she want to?

The answer surprised her; yes, she did.

Harmony Sea wanted to kiss Sirius Black right then. And little did she know that he was feeling the exact same thing. Sirius Black wanted to kiss Harmony Sea, too.

And they probably would have if bloody James Potter hadn't stumbled down the stairs at that moment calling overly loud, shattering the silence, "SIRIUS? Sirius! Oh hey Harmony. I didn't know where Sirius wen-_oh_. Did I interrupt something?"

The moment was completely gone. Stabbed and shot with a muggle gun, ran over by a train, eaten by a hippogriff and shit out multiple times. That's how gone the moment was.

Sirius slid a hand off her back and her neck as Harmony took her hands off his shoulders. They were both blushing. Furiously.

"Uh-" Sirius started as Harmony said at the same time, "Erm-"

"I'm pretty tired, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Harmony finally said flatly before sprinting up the stairs with energy that someone could not have if they were 'tired'.

Sirius just stared after her. "That was Harmony." He said in disbelief.

"You guys almost kissed! Scratch that-it looked like you were going to eat her face!" James said excitedly. "We all knew it was coming. It was obvious. Damn. Liven almost won the bet there."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sirius asked, caught off guard.

"Oh, er, we made a bet on how long it would take for you guys to snog. And confess your love for each other." James said sheepishly, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"How come I didn't know of this?" Then Sirius looked into the fire, "Did I actually almost kiss Harmony Sea?" He mumbled the last part to himself.

"What?" James said. "Couldn't hear you."

"Oh, uh, nothing. Let's go to bed, yeah?" Sirius said. So the boys walked up the staircase, Sirius still wondering what the _hell_ just happened.

Harmony was having similar thoughts. She lay awake in her bed, still smelling faint traces of Sirius' cologne on her and gazing up at the stars out the window.

She had almost kissed Sirius. It had all happened so bloody fast! In a matter of minutes the world had changed! (Well, not quite _so_ dramatic.)

Her best mate.

Her-

What? Her what? That's all they were right now- best mates.

Did he want to take it further?

Did _she_ want to take it further?

She was confused, flushed, and pretty exhausted.

She eventually fell asleep with the image of Sirius' face leaning closer and closer to hers.

* * *

Harmony woke up to sunlight streaming through the window and a big, emerald eyes looking straight into her's. She then realized her face was slightly wet from the cup of cool water Lily had evidently poured on Harmony to wake her up.

"Wha-" she yelped in alarm.

"She lives!" Liven cried while yanking her skirt on from across the room.

Lily smiled, satisfied at her work. Harmony sat there confused for a moment, before the events of the night came rushing back. Sirius, apologies, sleeping, Sirius' face-

_Woah_. It wasn't just a dream. What the heck happened?

"...pass me the concealer, I want to cover up this excuse of a complexion." Becca called while Liven tossed it in her general direction from the make-up bag on the dresser from where they left it the night before.

The girls kept talking all around the room but Harmony wasn't paying them the slightest bit of attention.

"Oh my gosh." Harmony muttered.

"What's up, Harms? Didn't finish your homework?" Alice asked mildly while braiding her hair.

"No..." Harmony swallowed. "We almost kissed!" She said loudly, gripping her face.

_That_ got everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry, *what?" Liven froze.

"We were talking...he apologized...I fell asleep...he was walking me to the stairs...and he just sort of...his face was...and then James-" Harmony mumbled to herself.

"You almost kissed _Sirius_?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Woah. What do you mean by almost?" Liven yelled. "I could have won the bloody bet!"

_"You made a bet?"_ Harmony screeched.

"Weeeelllllllll-" Liven started.

"Nevermind. Are you still friends?" Lily asked.

"Guess we'll find out, huh?" Harmony laughed weakly.

So the girls went about getting ready, make-up tossed around, screeching for answers on last-minute homework assignments, and this morning, awkward questions like, 'did he smell good?' or 'where were his hands?' Poor Harmony.

Finally, the group of sixth-years girls were ready. Harmony was incredibly nervous. Was he going to talk to her? Look at her? They didn't even kiss! Harmony constantly had to remind herself of this fact. But it was still an odd sensation on her part. Did she _fancy_ him? Did he fancy _her_?

Sure, he was gorgeous. And funny. And kind. And mischievous. And smart. And caring. And so bloody _gorgeous_! But they were best mates! Their friendship was usually pretty hands-on, Harmony noticed. But it had never gotten _that_ close before. Not like within kissing-distance close. He _looked_ like he wanted to kiss her. Harmony wanted to kiss him. What was the big deal?

They were supposed to be _mates_! That was the big deal! Harmony had never in her life been in this type situation.

_Liven kept saying it wasn't a big deal_, Harmony countered.

But that's probably because she'd snogged about every boy in Hogwarts.

Now that Harmony thought about it...Liven had never come back to the dorm with her hair and clothes askew singing, "Sirius Black, ladies!"

Harmony breifly wondered why they had never snogged. The womanizer and the snogging-queen had never gotten together?

This is _weird_. Harmony's weird. this situation's weird. Life is weird.

So, Harmony summoned her Gryffindor courage and marched down the stairs, to where the marauders were waiting.

She spotted Sirius, who raised his eyebrows slightly. "Morning, Siri-poo." She grinned. "Hello, boys."

"Oh, it's a splendid morning!" James was grinning too widely and looking between Sirius and Harmony. Harmony furiously fought off a blush.

"Right. Well I need my coffee. Coming, guys?" She raised her eyebrows and grinned at the group who was watching the exchange eagerly. Great. So all of them now knew. Obviously James would tell the other marauders. After all, she told her mates.

"Sure. Let's go." Sirius replied on behalf of the group.

Sirius followed Harmony out of the portrait hole where he tried really hard not to notice the way Harmony's hair shone in the sunlight or how her cheekbones prettily stood out when she smiled.

_Well, nothing seems to be different_. Harmony thought as she lead the group, oblivious to Sirius' dazed expression focused entirely on her.

Did Harmony _want_ it to be different?

**A/N There you go, my lovelies. I would just like to thank each and every one of my followers, favouriters and reviewers. You have no idea how much it brightens my day when I get an email like that!**

**So yeah. My chapters are getting extremely long now. This one is 4900 words. When I start, I can't just stop! It's bugging me because the first one is like 2k and this one is close to 5k!**

**Anyway, hope you're enjoying my story. Weekly updates, remember!**


	8. Screams and Slytherins

**Saturday Night**

Harmony Sea forced her thoughts on something other than Sirius Black while she jogged steadily around Hogwarts' lake for the fifth time.

The whole school had had their Hogsmeade trip earlier that day. But instead of getting tipsy like Harmony and the marauders, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black, usually did, they decided against being hungover for the first day of Christmas break, which was the next day, Sunday.

After getting back from a chilly day in Hogsmeade, the group of sixth-year Gryffindors ate another heart warm feast, and afterward had split up and went their separate ways. Peter and Sirius headed for the kitchens not long after dinner while Remus and James went up to the dorm to do a bit of homework to lessen the load over Christmas break. Harmony climbed the stairs to her own dorm and chatted and laughed with her mates for a bit. They eventually got some homework done to stop Lily from pestering them repeatedly about 'failing classes' and 'detention for the rest of your days'.

Harmony didn't _actually_ do anything. She just continued to design deadly fireworks and hum broken tunes to herself. She knew that she would just do all her homework the night before they went back to school. She wasn't nicknamed the 'Pyromaniac Procrastinator' for nothing after all. Well, it was mainly only Sirius who ever called her that.

Eventually, Harmony couldn't stand the silence only broken by the scratching of quills and turning of pages. She got up suddenly, making Becca jump and slam her Transfiguration book closed on her finger. Becca let out a few choicely swear words as Lily glared and Harmony grinned.

Harmony slipped into some old jogging clothes and shoved her feet in her trainers. "I'm going for a run. I'll be back in a bit!" She called while galloping down the stairs and almost falling a grand total of seven times.

Harmony was ripped out of her thoughts of the day's previous events by a rustle in the bushes outside. She stopped running and peered through the thick layers of branches and leaves of all kinds. Harmony couldn't see anything, so she bolted away as fast as she could.

Well whatever made that noise way just as fast as Harmony. "_Psst_!" A voice called and Harmony almost peed her pants on the spot, but kept sprinting through the snow all the same.

She scanned the tree line as she ran, but no one was there. Deciding she should head back to the castle like _now_, she ran back towards in the direction she came, heart pounding in her chest.

_Oh my shit, there's a man-eating Azkaban escapee hiding in the Forbidden Forest!_ was the only thought going through Harmony's mind as she made a beeline for the front doors.

The front doors that were open and had several figures stepping out into the moonlight.

Harmony felt a hand skim her hip in an attempt the grab her but she just dodged it and kept running. Running _fast_.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin-" Harmony heard a deep voice cry from the bushes before she was attacked.

An arm was suddenly around Harmony's waist, picking her up and yanking her in the dark shadows of the forest while the person's other hand was clamped down over her mouth.

She tried to scream and had a little mental breakdown before the adrenalin kicked in and she was wiggling like mad in the person's grip and elbowing every part of them she could feel.

"Harmful, _ow_, shut up!" A familiar voice hissed in Harmony's ear. She got a whiff of a cologne that she had smelled tons of times before, and she realized the arm around her was the same arm that held her up as she slipped on piece of ice on the way to Hogsmeade earlier that day.

She also noticed that her attacker had no shirt on. And it was bloody _winter_. But still, they had no shirt on.

Harmony whipped a hand to her mouth and ripped Sirius' hand away. She rounded on him, trying to ignore his bare chest.

"What the _bloody_ hell do you think you're doing?" Harmony snapped.

"Saving your arse! Now shut it before you become Death Eater dinner!" Sirius turned her around to see the front doors of the castle were open and a group of Slytherin Death Eaters were scurrying, already half-way across the Hogwarts lawn.

"Wha-" Harmony started before Sirius shushed her again.

She tried to think of anything but the arm that encircled her waist or the hips pressed against her back.

Harmony noticed pretty early on in the friendship that the marauders were very hands-on, not afraid to give a hug or put an arm over her shoulders. So, she sort of got used to it. But after the almost-kiss-moment, Harmony had become way more aware whenever a certain black-haired grey-eyed gorgeous animagus and herself were having physical contact. She couldn't help it.

They had been pretty much the same since _that night_. The night they almost kissed. But it still made blood rush to Harmony's face just thinking about it.

She fought the blush off her face as Sirius and herself held their breath. Harmony watched the slight breeze make ripples across the lake and the clear sky of stars and the moon shine brightly above.

It would have been a perfectly peaceful moment if a bunch of Slytherins weren't hissing at each other and stumbling ungracefully over the rocks that lined the shore of the lake.

Finally they passed by the stretch of forest where Harmony and Sirius hid in the shadows.

Harmony relaxed and turned to face Sirius, forcing herself not to take notice of Sirius' shirtlessness. "Thanks." She let a breath out.

Ever since Harmony _maybe_ might have given that same group of Slytherins the finger and yelled at them in the Great Hall a couple days previously, she was avoiding them as much as she could. Harmony badly, _badly_ wanted to go up and curse the lot of them, maybe throw some fireworks in their pumpkin juice, but Sirius made her promise she wouldn't do anything of the type. Completely un-Siriuslike. It was weird.

It had felt like months since she had almost-kissed Sirius and pissed off the Slytherins, but in reality it was only a couple days ago. Her mind was just excessively active, with everything going on- homework, Christmas, Sirius, the upcoming war, the Slytherins, and the who's-house-are-we-going-to-have-New-Years-at issue that had to be resolved in about six hours with herself and this year, the marauders.

Sirius removed his arm from Harmony's waist and she stepped away from him. "So. Stalking me, now?" Harmony grinned.

"You wish." He winked. "Nah, I just went for a run. Gotta keep in shape for the full moon." Sirius said, gesturing to the thick dark forest behind him which he was clearly just running around in while in in dog-form.

"Ah. When's the next one?" Harmony asked, tucking a dark brown curl behind her ear and crossing her arms.

"Two days." He said looking down at Harmony.

"Poor Remus. Lucky we had a Hogsmeade day to stock up on chocolate, huh?" Harmony laughed gently.

"Yeah. He eats chocolate like he breaths air before and after the full moon. It's hard to keep track of personal stashes because he can smell them. And then he eats them. While you're sleeping." Sirius grinned at the thought of his werewolf friend.

"I thought that to be more your style. I never pegged Remus as the sneaky type." Harmony grinned and looked down.

"He's a marauder for a reason!" Sirius sing-songed.

Harmony just laughed softly and walked back out onto the grass outside the forest. Sirius followed.

Harmony stood looking up at the stars for a moment and then turned to wickedly grin at Sirius. "Wanna race?" She asked in an adorable little kid voice.

"Yeah!" Sirius readied himself, "One, two-_HEY_!" Sirius yelped.

Harmony was already bolting off in the direction of the double doors, her laughter echoing around the grounds, making cats skitter away and conversations stop for a fraction of a second inside the castle.

Sirius was laughing too as he kept his eyes trained on Harmony long hair whipping out behind her as she ran. Harmony was actually a _really_ fast runner, Sirius noted as he just managed to catch up with her.

Sirius reached out and grabbed Harmony, pulling her down and behind him as he ran ahead around the lake.

"You _bum_!" Harmony screeched, trying not to laugh as she got up and bolted to Sirius.

When she was in close proximity, she launched herself at Sirius, throwing her arms around his neck to slow him down.

"Hey-" Sirius started as he toppled into the icy cold lake with Harmony.

Luckily, Harmony landed in the shallow part so she only got half-wet. Sirius, however got the full blast and he came up choking on water and laughing hysterically, trying to keep himself up and shaking wet hair out of his face.

"Oh, Harms. I think you're going to pay for that." He sing-songed dangerously and stood up. Sirius sloshed to a shallower part of the water, droplets rolling down his bare chest as he gave Harmony his signature smirk that screamed mischief.

She almost swooned. *Almost. Maybe she would have if Sirius didn't splash water all over her, little icy droplets attacking her face, chest and arms. "_Sirius_!"

Then Harmony realized that she should probably run before Sirius had a chance to throw her in the lake. She laughed wickedly and ran towards the entrance to Hogwarts.

Sirius caught up with her gave her a big hug. If she wasn't soaked before, she was now. "Sirius!" She screamed. He just shook his head, spraying water all over her face. "You're being a piece of hippogriff poo!" She yelled after he finally let her go, grinning and inspecting his work.

"I'm bloody freezing!" She shivered, lake water flying everywhere.

"You think _you're_ freezing?" He gestured to his bare chest.

"Yeah well that's your bloody fault for wearing no shirt _while there's snow on the bloody ground_!"

"I didn't need a shirt! I had a nice warm dog-hair-coat, thank you very much." Sirius pointed out wisely.

Harmony rolled her eyes and ran the rest of the way to the big double doors. Sirius tried to catch up, but by the time he got to her, she was already yelling, "I beat you! I beat you! What do you think of that, Siri-poo?"

She was doing that little victory dance where she wiggled her hips and had that triumph smirk on her face that was purely _Harmony_.

Sirius laughed as he put an arm around her. He led Harmony back in the castle as they chatted about this and that, school, Christmas, nothing special in particular.

They walked through the dark castle, the only other noise other than the sixth-year's conversation was the meowing of the caretaker's cat and occasional dazed student wandering back to their dorm after snogging some other person in a broom cupboard, no doubt.

Sirius and Harmony arrived back at the common room, well after curfew, around eleven. The common room was pretty much deserted, except for the odd student. But everyone had pretty much gotten used to Sirius and Harmony's insane adventures/dares/competitions/ideas/pranks. People just stooped wondering what had happened to the pair after a while. The last stragglers in the common room were no different. Harmony and Sirius still must have been an odd sight, dripping wet with lake water, laughing and Sirius part-naked.

"Wanna come down to the kitchens with me?" Sirius asked, warming his hands in front of the glowing fireplace.

"Sure. I have to change, I'll be back in a minute." Harmony told him.

"Same here." They left up their respectable stairs and came down in different clothes a couple moments later.

"So. Kitchens?" Harmony asked shyly, smiling slightly and looking up at Sirius from under her eyelashes.

"Yep. I could do with a butterbeer right now." Sirius took Harmony's hand and they left the now-deserted common room in Gryffindor tower.

"I think I'm going to take alcohol over caffeine tonight." Harmony said, a little pink in the face from her hand being intertwined with Sirius'.

His cheeks were a little more red than usual, too. "Two personal goals in one school year." He said, the first 'goal' meaning the time Harmony got up early and burst into the Great Hall, interrupting Dumbledore's speech. It was even more humiliating because everyone burst into applause after Liven informed the entire student and staff body that getting up relatively early was a new concept for Harmony.

"Shut up, you." Harmony smiled as she thought back on all the insane experiences she'd had this year.

Sirius grinned and tightened his hold in Harmony's hand. They fell in a comfortable silence as the pair made their way down to the kitchens.

After tickling the pear and hearing it's signature giggle, the house elves were surrounding Harmony and Sirius with joyous shouts.

"Mister Black and Miss Sea! What can Moby get for you?" The house elf named Moby asked eagerly, bowing until her long nose brushed the floor.

"I think just two butterbeers please." Harmony asked politely, turning to Sirius for confirmation.

He nodded as Moby cried, "Oh yes, Miss Sea and Mister Black! Right away!"

And sure enough, a tray appeared over Moby's hands almost immediately from a couple of fellow house elves who were beaming.

"Thank you!" Harmony smiled at the little creatures and they bowed again.

Harmony and Sirius left to sit on the chairs by the fireplace in the kitchens, talking and laughing.

* * *

A couple hors later, Harmony stretched and stood up, Sirius following her lead. "I guess we should get going." Harmony yawned and glanced at the clock that hung in the dark kitchens. It was one am. The house elves had long since retired to their beds.

"Sure. Let's go." Sirius said, clearing their empty bottles of butterbeer away with the others.

Harmony and Sirius went through the dark castle, navigating their way to the common room all the way up in Gryffindor Tower.

Finally, they clambered through the portrait hole. "Goodnight, Harmful." Sirius yawned while pulling Harmony in for a hug.

A hug that lasted a couple of seconds more than a friendly hug would have.

Finally Sirius slipped his arms off Harmony's waist. "Goodnight, Sirius, see you tomorrow."

Sirius smiled and they made their way up the stairs to the dormitory.

Harmony crawled into bed. Her friends had left a note on her pillow, so she picked it up before she laid down on her squishy pillow.

_Harms,_

_We heard you and Sirius out on the grounds so we won't wait up for you. Ps- Lily says she won't help you with your homework over the break because you ditched it while you had a 'perfect opportunity to complete it'._

Harmony finished reading and grinned widely, thanking the Heavens that she had such amazing mates.

Just a Harmony was falling asleep, she shot up in bed. "Shit." She murmured because Harmony realized that she forgot her wand in the kitchens. Harmony sure as hell knew she wasn't getting up early to retrieve it tomorrow.

So, Harmony reluctantly pulled her tired limbs out of the comfort and warmth of her bed.

Walking down the stairs and out the portrait hole again, Harmony grumbled to herself about 'bloody wands', 'bloody memory', and even 'bloody big castles'.

Sirius would have been proud at all the cursing she was doing.

Harmony cut through a shortcut behind a tapestry. When she stepped out, she heard hushed voices coming from the corridor over.

Before she could retreat the way she came, someone had clamped a hand over Harmony's mouth and grabbed her around the middle.

Except this time, the hands were pressed harder, harsher, rougher, against her body and there was no familiar scent lingering the air. Just the sour smell of some type of whiskey, which made Harmony's stomach churn.

"Look what I found, Avery." A deep, mocking voice called.

Harmony was dragged around a corner and came face to face with Nott, Travers, Avery, and Rosier, the very group of Slytherin Death Eaters that Harmony was trying to avoid.

"_Oh_, nice little catch, Mulciber." Avery grinned, a wickedly evil glint flashing in his eyes like lightning while Harmony struggled like mad against Mulciber's grip around her body.

"I would prefer if you didn't refer to me like an animal." Harmony spat and she was suddenly thrown down against the wall, the group of Slytherins huddled around her.

Snape wasn't present, she noticed as Harmony glared up at the lot, making her way shakily to her feet.

They all still had a two feet and a hundred pounds on her. "What do you want?" Harmony said, her tone sharp and threatening.

"Oh nothing much. I just figured now's the perfect time to sort out a little _issue_ that we've encountered with you." Avery advanced and traced a finger down Harmony's cheek. She slapped it away.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Harmony asked through narrowed eyes. It was _really_ dark in the corridor, she noticed, except for the window behind Nott's broad shoulders.

"Well, we already had a problem with you, little girlfriend of a pureblood, a girlfriend of a _Black_. Since we all know Sirius had a problem to begin with, that _Gryffindor_, we thought it would be great to wipe out a mudblood _and_ hurt the little screw-up all in one!" Avery stated, grinning widely like he was a genius for thinking up this plan. The rest of the little gang chuckled darkly.

"_There is nothing wrong with Sirius, you bloody prick_." Harmony snapped.

Avery just flicked his wand and a deep gash appeared on Harmony's cheek. It started bleeding profusely. _"It's rude to interrupt_, _you filthy mudblood_." Avery hissed, eyes narrowed. "And back to my story," he continued as Harmony held a sleeve up to her cheek to stop the bleeding. "when you thought it was funny to yell at us and flip your finger up, I thought we should make a _special_ point to have a heart to heart chat." He gestured around him, like that was what they were doing then.

Harmony wasn't fooled by Avery's kind manner. She saw the pure hatred and fury flashing in his eyes, like a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm part reminded Harmony of another pair of grey, thunderstormy eyes, but without any negative content swirling in the grey clouds.

"I can scream. I can scream _loud_." Harmony tried. It was her last choice. She was wandless, alone in the dark corridor in the middle of the night and with a couple Death Eaters twice her size and weight. Not to mention it was five on one.

Harmony was a goner.

"That won't stop us. It always pleases me to hear the screams of useless mudbloods." Avery whispered, leaning in dangerously close to Harmony's face.

"Check for her wand." He leaned away from Harmony and his tone was sharp as he ordered the rest of the Slytherins around.

Almost immediately, Rosier and Travers advanced on Harmony. She stiffened and closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the rough hands feeling around her body for her wand. "I don't have it." She spit.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Travers growled in a deep voice near her ear.

_"I left it in my dorm_!" She yelled with force, shoving them back.

The hands were removed from her body and Harmony shuttered, hating the memory already.

"I guess you would have used it now, or tried to, right? You're telling the truth. You're so _brave_." Avery taunted.

"Good observation. Why do you think the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor?" She hissed, cringing as she steadied herself against the wall. Harmony knew that she would have hand-sized bruises all over her.

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? No more chit-chatting." Avery glanced around the circle, then finally back to Harmony. The Slytherins nodded eagerly.

Suddenly, Harmony launched herself at Avery, knocking the wand out of his hand. She tried to run for it, but a thick pair of arms were pulling her back, lifting her up and throwing her back against the wall where she hit her head painfully against the cold stone.

Harmony stood up again, and felt the slow trickle of blood down the back of her neck. The pain was blinding. But nothing compared to the pain she felt when Avery stood up suddenly, rage filling his eyes, and he shouted 'Crucio!' in her direction.

Fire filled her. Everything was on fire. Her blood was poison, burning through her veins, every thought splitting her head open more. She felt her back arch off the ground from where she fell, her blood curdling screams echoing all around the walls of the silent castle.

Harmony was dying, she knew. She knew that the she would never survive this. She couldn't.

Harmony always wondered what it felt like to burn to death.

But she never actually considered it an option. She always thought she would die of old age, or at the hands of Voldemort after fighting bravely.

Nothing, _nothing_, could block out the pain. Not the stars outside the window, not the thoughts if Harmony's family and friends, not the way Sirius smelled, his voice, his eyes. Nothing. Although she tried.

The unbearable and excruciating pain went on for minutes, hours, days, months, years. She didn't know how long she screamed and withered on the floor, her sanity slipping farther and farther away as she cut and bruised herself on the cold stone wall and floor.

And suddenly, it stopped.

The pain stopped.

Harmony couldn't move for a few seconds. She heard laughter fill the corridor as a tear escaped her eye.

Harmony tilted her head, trying to pull herself over so she could at least see the stars while she was dying.

More laughter. They thought she was trying to get away. No, Harmony knew it was too late for that.

"Watch it, mudblood." Someone snarled while she was picked up and put on her feet.

She felt like a rag doll. The thought almost made Harmony smile, for some reason. She suddenly regretted throwing all her play dolls around when she was younger. Harmony knew how it felt now.

Harmony leaned against the wall to hold herself up. Avery approached her. "Regret pissing us off now, don't you?"

"_Never_." Harmony half hissed half gasped, eyes narrowed as she tried to keep her anger inside.

Footsteps were pounding all over, all around them. Looks like the school had woken up.

Harmony turned her head to look at the incoming students. They froze, various masks of horror on their faces when they saw the scene before them; a group of five Slytherins surrounding a girl who was half their size, barely keeping herself up, and was covered in her own blood, scrapes and fresh bruises.

The Slytherins were already gone, sprinting out the doors of the castle.

Dumbledore appeared through the crowd in his thin night gown. Another familiar face burst out of the crowd suddenly, too.

Sirius pushed pass Dumbledore and ran to Harmony. A smile graced her lips as she muttered, "The stars have come to save me."

And then she finally collapsed, blood soaking her clothes and hair. The last thing she saw was not the stars far, far away out the window, as she expected, but the eyes of her very own star, right down here, Sirius.

* * *

"Sirius, shut up! They said she'll make it!" An annoyed female voice said.

"_You_ shut up, or you'll wake her!" Another deeper voice whispered back.

Harmony slowly realized that these voices were beside her. They were getting louder as she regained consciousness.

The voices stopped and she felt something shift on her mattress. Or someone.

Harmony opened her eyes, only to find that it was dark through the windows, the moon shining brightly beyond the window panes. She was in the hospital wing and it was at night, Harmony noticed.

Wait. The hospital wing?

What?

The previous events flooded back into her mind.

"Harms!" A voice cried and suddenly arms were around her.

Harmony flicked her eyes to the voice, seeing nothing but soft dirty-blond hair obscuring her vision. "I'm okay, Becca. Calm down." Harmony soothed as Becca cried. "I'm fine."

"You almost died, Harmony. You are _not_ fine! You got attacked by the bloody Death Eaters! Oh Harmony!" Becca nearly screeched.

"I'm alive. Becca calm down. You're being hysterical." Harmony pulled back and looked in her best friend's eyes to get her point across.

Becca wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. "I'm going to owl everyone else to let them know you woke up and you're okay-ish."

"Okay." Harmony said, as Becca hurried out of the hospital wing. Then she turned and saw Sirius studying her.

"What?" She asked, self-consciously and pulling at a thread of the thin hospital bed sheets.

"Don't ever do that to me again. I thought I _lost_ you, Harmony Sea." Sirius said, scooting closer to Harmony, his eyes large and rimmed with red. He leaned in and traced the cut across her cheek, then down to the one on her lip.

Sirius Black, _crying_?

"I'm sorry." Harmony mumbled, smiling slightly. She sat up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her body as she moved and opened her arms to Sirius.

Sirius immediately came even closer and slipped his arms around Harmony gently.

He buried his face in her curly hair while she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Can I...I know Dumbledore will have to question me...but can I tell you and you can tell him instead?" Harmony asked, her hazel eyes big as she pulled back and looked up at Sirius.

"Sure, Harms." Sirius played with her fingers as she told the story about forgetting her wand and the unforgivable curse and finally how the Slytherins ran out when footsteps were heard coming.

Apparently, as Sirius told Harmony, the portraits had quickly realized what was going on and they ran through their paintings to get help. Sirius said he heard screaming while climbing into bed, and had run out to the common room to find that half the school was already up mostly due to the portraits tearing around and screeching their heads of about the whole commotion in the corridor. Harmony was really close to the common room, not making it very far until she encountered the Slytherins, so it made sense that she woke up the entire population of Gryffindor tower.

"It was scary." Sirius whispered. "You were all bloody and muttering about stars, and then you just collapsed."

"Yeah, it wasn't something I want to go through again." Harmony chuckled softly, smiling at Sirius' face. "So, what's wrong with me?"

"Couple of broken ribs, minor concussion, bruises, and then there's probably going to be some emotional damage." Sirius replied, chuckling without any traces of humor.

"Thanks for saving me, _my knight in shining armour_." Harmony joked lightly, causing Sirius to look up from Harmony's hands.

"I didn't save you. I just brought you _here_." Sirius mumbled, gesturing around the empty hospital wing.

Harmony studied Sirius' face. The moonlight was casting shadows over his skin, making his jaw and cheekbones stand out. His eyes were as stormy as ever, various shades of grey swirling in them. There was an emotion in the mix too, but Harmony couldn't quite place it.

"Why aren't you gone for the break? And what time is it? I'm assuming we missed the train." Harmony realized suddenly.

"Yeah. It left earlier today. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Slughorn had to force the others on the train." He said, referring to Harmony's dorm mates and the marauders. "They let Becca stay because she lives down the street from you. And me...well I gave them a piece if my mind and they let me stay." Sirius told Harmony sheepishly.

"I sincerely hope you didn't earn detention because if me." Harmony grinned. "I'm sorry you had to be delayed, though." Harmony blushed a little. "So...when are we going?"

"Going?" Sirius asked.

"I want to leave. I haven't been home in a while..." Harmony clarified.

"Ah, well I guess that will be up to-" Sirius started.

"Mister Black! No visitors. Especially while she's awake. I need to check on her!" The matron screeched, running at the bed with an armful of bottles and vials, the majority of them smoking.

"Good luck." Sirius smiled, kissed Harmony on the cheek, and left the hospital wing.

* * *

Two hours later, Harmony, Becca and Sirius stood at the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office.

"I have informed your parents about everything, Harmony. They are expecting you soon. And Mister Black, the Potters are already aware of the situation, being part of the auror team searching for the culprits." McGonagall told the pair.

"Thank you, Professor." Harmony said graciously.

"I'll go first. Can you handle her, Sirius?" Becca asked, gesturing to the fireplace and scooping out a handful of Floo powder from the pot on the mantle.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Not soon after, Sirius had an arm around Harmony and another held his wand.

"Now Mister Black, Dumbledore has contacted the Ministry. They know about this underage apparation. You are not to apparate again until you have a licence. I trust you know how to do it, with the extra-curricular classes Hogwarts has hosted?" McGonagall inquired sternly.

"Yes, yes. James took my trunk so I don't have to carry it. Don't worry, Minny! Happy Christmas!" He grinned as McGonagall sent him a withering glare. Harmony laughed.

Suddenly the pair were twisting, turning, the air sucked out of them, eyes and ears pressing into their skulls as they traveled through darkness.

As soon as it started, it stopped. Harmony stumbled, dropping her trunk dizzily.

"M'fine." She muttered, using Sirius to stable herself.

"Hey- how did you know where I lived?" Harmony questioned after the world stopped spinning and the sharp pains in her ribs eased off.

"Dumbledore." He told her simply.

Harmony looked over to her vintage-looking home surrounded by trees and land. The windows were glowing yellow and she could see a Christmas tree shining brightly through the front window pane.

"Thanks, Sirius. Happy Christmas." She pushed up on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek.

Sirius just wrapped an arm around Harmony's waist, another around her back. Harmony held his neck and leaned against his shoulder. It was peaceful, with the snow falling gently around them, and the distant tune of old Christmas music gracing their ears from one of the surrounding neighbour's houses.

"Happy Christmas Harmony. Be careful, okay?" Sirius pulled away and summoned the Knight Bus.

She watched him, a hip cocked and her hair falling into her eyes. "I'll see you at New Year's? James' house?" She called.

He smiled. "Yeah. You better be prepared. It's a marauders new year party."

"Oh, I will be."

The Knight Bus came just then, and an old wrinkly man stepped out. Sirius dashed back to Harmony, kissed her forehead, hopped on the Knight Bus, and was gone into the night leaving Harmony to hobble inside to the warm loving arms of her family.

**A/N- Wholy poop this one was long. Wow. Okay.**

**Anyway.**

**I feel like I should be wishing you all a Happy Christmas even though it's March. But whatever. Happy Christmas to all my favouriters, followers and reviewers! Thank you!**

**Ohh I need a coffee.**


	9. New Year's Kisses and Curses

"You be safe, Harmony." Harmony Sea's mother said, adjusting, patting and smoothing Harmony's clothing for the millionth time.

"I will, Mum." Harmony replied, catching her mother's hand and squeezing it gently.

Her father stepped forward from behind his wife. "Stay out of trouble, now. We'll miss you."

Harmony stepped forward and gave her dad a hug in the brightly-lit entryway of her house. "I'll be seeing you at Easter. You won't even have time to miss me."

"Harmony!" Her six-year-old sister wailed, throwing her little body at Harmony's legs.

"Charlotte, don't cry. I'll be home in a few weeks!" Harmony's voice cracked as she bent down and hugged her one and only little sister around the middle.

"But I want you to stay!" Charlotte looked tearfully up, her big blue eyes bright, ringlets shining gold in the lamp light.

"I have to visit my friends and then go back to school, jellybean." Harmony said, causing her little sister to smile slightly at the use of their old code-names.

"I love you always, _cucumber_." Charlotte giggled.

Harmony stood up, kissed her parents and her little sister goodbye, then picked up her trunk.

It was New Year's Eve and she was leaving to go to James Potter's house for a party and the remainder of the winter break, which was only a couple days.

Her Christmas had been wonderful. It was so nice to be home, sleeping in her own room, rather than a dorm. Harmony didn't realize how much she truly missed her family until they were all crowded around the dinner table, laughing and exchanging stories, just like old times.

Just like there wasn't a war coming on.

Just like Harmony hadn't been attacked by Slytherin Death Eaters just a week before.

Harmony had surprisingly healed up pretty fast from the attack in the empty corridors of Hogwarts. There was still the faint darkness of bruises on her skin, mostly across the ribs she had broken and a couple along her face, legs and collarbones. The emotional part was still healing slowly.

"And I'll see you in a week or so." Harmony turned to her 13 (almost fourteen!) year old brother, Ryan, and tapped him on the nose with her finger.

"Be careful, Harms." He said and rolled his eyes. She hadn't realized it, but his voice had gotten a little deeper. Harmony decided then and there that she was going to make a point to spend more time with her brother at school, so as not to miss any other important parts of his life.

"Bye!" Harmony called, hauling her trunk down the front sidewalk.

Her family called their various good-byes, little Charlotte crying into Harmony's dad's pant leg.

It broke her heart, so Harmony dashed back too quickly to be conscious of the icy ground, and gave her sister a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. "I love you!" Harmony called once again, dashing down the path again.

Darkness took over Harmony's silhouette as she listened to the faint click if her front door closing. She was headed for her best friend/neighbour/room mate, Becca Leen's house, just a little ways down the street.

Harmony suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness, walking quietly through the complete blackness and coldness of her street. Her footfalls sounded like stomping against the pavement, when in reality they were just quiet _taptaptaptap's_.

Harmony looked up at the stars. It was a clear, cool night. Her long curly brown hair was lifted by the breeze as she walked past a power line, the steady buzz of electricity from the hyro lines giving her a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.

All of the sudden, a crack was heard from the thick bush that Harmony was walking alongside. She almost had a heart attack as she whipped around, frozen, eyes wide like saucers.

Maybe Harmony's hearing was sharper in the cold, still night. Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her when she swore she saw a slight movement from behind the branches and leaves.

_*What the hell? _Harmony thought frantically, as she hurried her pace, struggling with the sharp pains in her ribs as she tried to haul her trunk behind her. She had to continuously remind herself that the Ministry of Magic had put a whole shitload of protection over her house just days ago, so her family was safe. She was still terrified.

Harmony finally made it to her friend Becca's house. She banged on the door, heart still beating, and head whipping back and forth, scanning the porch as she waited.

Harmony had to take the quick walk to her best friend's house to Floo to James' because Harmony's fireplace was 'electric'.

Honestly. Those muggles actually have fireplaces run by electricity. Harmony shouldn't have been surprised when she got home for Christmas break and discovered a new feature in her home, but spending months straight in Hogwarts will make you look twice at even a toaster.

Becca threw open the door, making Harmony scream loudly from the sudden moment.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Becca questioned as Harmony stepped inside, grateful for the warmth.

"A lot of things. Want a list or demonstration?" Harmony grunted as she pulled her trunk through the door.

"Don't grunt. It's not ladylike." Becca scolded, wrapping her best friend in a hug. "And hey, Happy New Year's Eve! How are you feeling?" She added in after, pulling out of the embrace.

"I'm swell." Harmony replied.

"Literally? We should call a healer-" Becca started in a concerned voice.

"I didn't mean it literally. You, Sirius and my family are driving me nuts asking me if I'm okay."

"As if you aren't already nuts." Becca grinned, pulling Harmony to her room.

"Yeah yeah." Harmony rolled her eyes.

The pair of girls went up the flight of stairs to Becca's bedroom. Harmony was greeted with the familiar sight of navy blue walls and posters everywhere. "Excited for the party?" Becca smiled widely.

"It'll be a night to remember, that's for sure. A bunch of teenagers given a mansion, reason to party and alcohol? Oh, this will be bloody brilliant." Harmony flopped down on Becca's bed as Becca slipped into her pretty purple skirt.

"That's pretty." Harmony commented, sitting up.

"Oh, thanks. I got it for tonight." Becca blushed a little.

"Yeah? Or did you get it for the matter of some_one,_ not an occasion?" Harmony grinned super wide when Becca turned beet red.

"How do you always find these things out?" Becca cried in exasperation.

"I see things, Becca. So. Remus?"

"Perhaps." Becca muttered, slipping on her leather jacket and grabbing her trunk.

"Oh that's so cute, Becca! He fancies you too, I can see it. He's always giving you those secret little glances." Harmony laughed.

"Like the ones Sirius gives you?" Becca grinned evilly while barreling down the stairs like she always did.

"That's unladylike. Especially in a skirt." Harmony dodged a smack. "Where's your family?"

"Oh, they had a party to go to, so we said our tearful goodbyes earlier." Becca replied.

The girls grabbed their respectable belongings, threw the Floo Powder in the fireplace, and yelled out James' address which they had learned by a letter Harmony received in the mail previously from James and Sirius.

They went through the dizzy spinning and twirling of the Floo Network before it stopped and the girls stumbled out into a huge, comfy living room, which four boys, also known as the marauders, resided in.

"I hate Floo. Whoever invented it was full of shit." Harmony muttered, wiping the black soot off her dark denim jeans and peacoat, which was thankfully buttoned up to protect her shirt from the coldness and now, soot.

"Harms!" Sirius squealed from across the room, mouth full of chocolate.

"Charming, Sirius. Don't talk with your mouth full." Harmony scolded but still hugged him tightly back around the neck as he did around her waist. Harmony tried to ignore how bloody hot he looked in his simple jeans and long sleeve shirt. Not to mention he smelled like a pit of Heaven.

Sirius was having similar thoughts.

They eventually pulled away from each other. Harmony was already a little warm in the face, despite being at James' for five minutes. Not even.

The girls each made their rounds greeting and hugging each of the marauders. There were a lot of 'Happy New Year Eve!'s and 'how are you doing, Harmony?'s.

Suddenly James' parents entered the living room, beaming. "Harmony, Rebecca! I'm Grace, this is my husband Charles. Oh it's so nice to finally meet you! We've heard so much!" Grace Potter exclaimed, pulling both girls in for a hug. When she pulled back again they got a good look at her. She had long, wavy red-brown hair, a warm smile, and the same shade of hazel eyes that James had clearly inherited. She was beautiful.

"I'm Charles. I trust you ladies are doing well?" Charles Potter asked more to Harmony than to Becca.

Harmony nodded and smiled graciously while she studied Charles. He was a fifty-year-old version of James. Messy, jet black hair now streaked with silver-grey, mischievous, warm blue eyes, and laugh-lines that suggests his nature was a lot like James'.

"Thank you, for inviting us here. Your home is beautiful!" Becca cried and Harmony nodded in agreement, taking in the deep gold walls and the squishy, used couches that made one want to sink in them and sleep forever.

"How about we show these ladies to their rooms?" Sirius interjected before the elder Potters could thank the girls for the compliment.

"Sure! I hope you don't mind sharing a room?" Grace asked worriedly

"Oh no, that'd be wonderful. Thank you, Mrs. Potter." Harmony said.

"Please, it's Grace and Charles. Don't worry about all that formal stuff." Grace smiled warmly, her eyes lighting up.

The boys grabbed the girls' trunks and led them to their respectable bedrooms, talking and laughing. "So when are Liven, Lily and Alice coming?" Harmony asked.

"Lily and Liven should be here really soon. Alice couldn't come because she was spending her new year's with her family or something, and then she wanted to visit Frank tomorrow." Remus informed them, Frank being Alice's new boyfriend.

"I guess the Hogsmeade date went well then?" Harmony grinned widely.

"Oh you should have read the letter she sent me about him the other day. It was hysterical." Becca laughed.

"Yes, but she's been in love with him for forever!" Harmony countered, laughing too.

They reached a long, wide hallway with various paintings of landscapes and nature. There were several doors along the walls.

They walked by one that said 'James' and another that said 'Sirius', in matching scarlet paint colours across from each other. They also walked by a bunch without any names at all. About the middle of the corridor, Sirius stopped and opened a door then gestured for Harmony to enter.

Harmony and Becca entered the room and smiled widely. Two double beds were stationed across from each other, both accompanied with a dresser and a nightstand. A door stood ajar across the room, and a large shower was visible beyond it.

Harmony bolted for the bed closest to the window and plopped down on it. "Wholy shit, James. I feel like I'm in an inn." She called excitedly, admiring the view from out the window.

James just laughed. "Thanks I think!"

Everyone began to listen to a hilarious tale from James about how him and Sirius had been dared by Charles to model outside the front gates in their underwear on Christmas morning, coloured green and red.

Harmony sat up to find that Sirius was watching her, not paying attention to James.

"What?" Harmony asked, laughing softly despite her red cheeks. She got up and walked to Sirius' side.

"I'm just really glad you're better." Sirius mumbled slightly, reaching up to tug on a long ringlet that hung down her arm.

Harmony smiled, revealing her straight teeth. "Yeah, me too."

Sirius slipped a hand down to rest of the small of Harmony's back. She leaned against him and turned to listen to the rest of James' tale.

Lily came in a little while later, cheeks still red from the cold. "Hi, guys!" James' face lit up.

It had, after all, taken great amounts of convincing and whining to get Lily to come stay at _James Potter's_ house for almost a week. She also broke up with her annoying and protective boyfriend, Korey List, in the process because he almost shit a brick when he found out that Lily was staying with James at his house.

Lily wasn't even sad when she ended it, which surprised most. Harmony knew that Korey was a prick and a know-it-all, but she didn't think Lily realized it. Well, Lily did inform Harmony that she did, in fact realize Korey was a prick and know-it-all, because she quoted those exact names in the letter she sent Harmony on Christmas Eve.

Everyone was pretty happy about that relationship ending. Especially James. _Mostly_ James.

The black-haired boy in question jumped up at Lily's arrival. "Lily! Happy New Year's Eve!"

"Thank you, James." Lily smiled warmly, which almost made Harmony shit a brick herself. Lily *smiling warmly at James? It was not heard of until that moment!

James seemed to be taken aback as well, because he started stuttering. "Well-Lily, uh, how about I show you to your, er, room?"

"Sure. One minute."

After the whole greeting with Lily was done, Liven burst through the bedroom door also.

Finally, after everyone was done repeating 'hello!'s, 'I'm good!'s and 'Happy New Year's Eve!'s to each other, the group headed downstairs to James' back porch that was magically enchanted to keep it warm.

Christmas lights and lanterns were hung up around the deck, giving the place a warm, fun glow. A little radio was already set up and playing upbeat music loudly from the corner, and there was an endless supply of alcohol upon the glass patio table. Little tacky hats were stacked neatly, reading 'Happy New Year!' with various moving images dancing, laughing, blowing trumpets and drinking champagne. Harmony's eyes were drawn mostly to the impressive collection of fireworks and sparklers that sat in cardboard boxes bearing the Zonko's Joke Shop logo.

It was already ten at night, so after James' parents left to go to their New Year's party, Liven cried, "Let's make some memories, bitches!" And that was all the cue the group of sixteen-year-olds needed.

* * *

"Do-do it, James. I dare you!" Sirius said in between gasps of laughter, clutching onto Harmony for support although she wasn't in a much better state herself.

Peter fell off the deck and into the pond with laughter. This did nothing to improve any of the teenager's states of mind. They just laughed harder and stumbled around the deck even more.

James mounted his broom and grabbed the firework from the glass table now littered with empty bottles and matches. He flew up over the mansion, there a yell of, "Camels!" and a firework exploded, clearly spelling out the word 'butthole' for everyone within a five mile radius to see.

This isn't really funny. But it was immensely so to the highly intoxicated, well most of them were, sixteen-year-olds for obvious reasons. Like the endless supply of alcohol and the loud music filling them with adrenaline, and the fact that they were enjoying the last moments of the year.

Harmony vaguely wondered whether James' parents were aware about the alcohol intake going on. They wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon, she countered. Surely they trusted James a lot.

A couple of James' family friends showed up, home-schooled wizards around their age, so Liven was off snogging some bloke in the corner of the deck.

The one person who had been with Harmony the whole night was Sirius, and the more time she spent with him the more she just wanted to snog him senseless. He kept a strong hold of her all night, not that she minded, and she caught all the little glances he sent in her direction. He played with her hair when they sat down with their feet in the water, they did a bunch of stupid dares including fire and skipping ropes together, and had shared a couple bottles between them.

Suddenly, it was five minutes until midnight. Harmony reached down her shirt, to which Sirius laughed, and pulled out a little, suspiciously blankly-labeled firework. It was a wizarding firework, and a damn impressive one at that. She had begged and flirted and payed so much for this little deadly thing, so Harmony wasn't letting it go to waste. Tonight was the perfect opportunity to use it.

The count-down began, and Harmony turned to Sirius, grinning widely. "This will blow your mind."

"Literally?" Sirius asked, casually slipping an arm around Harmony, pulling her close so he could hear her better. Well, that's what he told himself.

"Nah." Harmony looked over at her friends, in various positions laying, sitting or standing around the deck, some even in the water, watching the show of fireworks already being set off by James and his friend. "Well, maybe."

"Come'ere." Sirius slurred only slightly. He could hold his alcohol well, Harmony noticed.

The pair stumbled down off the deck, and down to the dark grass. Sirius led her to a little tree just beside the lake, a couple hundred feet from the party.

Harmony looked over the rippling water, not paying mind to the coldness because of the alcohol still acting as a heater inside her body.

She heard cries of "Ten, nine, eight-" echoing around the grounds of James' house.

Suddenly, Harmony felt light fingers trailing down her cheek. She looked over to see Sirius, standing much closer then she realized. He was looking right into her eyes. Grey and silver were swirling around in his eyes, making them dark, mysterious yet still full of laughter and mischief. There was something else there too, that she couldn't quite place.

His fingers slipped down and lightly traced the line of her collarbone, and the purple bruise on it that seemed somehow darker in the shadows.

The moonlight made his jaw and cheekbones stand out, and his lips were parted slightly.

Sirius' eyes dropped from Harmony's sea-green and brown ones to her full lips, also parted, revealing a set of straight, white teeth glowing in the dark.

"I'm going to kiss you now." He whispered, one of his hands resting in the small of Harmony's back and the other one on the back of her neck, tangled in her long hair.

Harmony's heart was beating out of her chest, her hands shaking slightly. She somehow mumbled back, "Happy New Year, Sirius."

No sooner than she said this, his soft lips pressed against hers, and fireworks erupted in her stomach. As their lips moved together, something burst inside her, summoning her Gryffindor courage to pull him down closer to her and curve her body to fit perfectly in his. They were a perfect match, Sirius thought while he felt Harmony's body press into his, and he moved his fingers in small circles on the back of her neck.

Cheers and screams of 'HAPPY NEW YEAR!' were filling the pair's ears from the deck, echoing off the chilly water of the lake. It felt like a million miles away to Harmony and Sirius.

A million thoughts were running through Harmony's brain, saying the same thing but in various kinds of phrasing.

SHE WAS KISSING _SIRIUS_!

SIRIUS WAS KISSING HER _BACK_!

These thoughts only lasted for a few moments, until Harmony's attention was completely focused completely on the body and lips of a certain gorgeous, curly black haired, sixteen-year-old Gryffindor.

Neither pulled away from each other when someone with a deep voice yelled a couple minutes later, "Hey, who's over there? By that tree?"

"That looks like-"

"-_Sirius and Harmony_?"

"Way to go, Padfoot!" James exclaimed, whooping and hollering drunken phrases about snogging and trees and there was even one about beavers.

Harmony could feel the gaping stares and grins of her friends across the pond, accompanied with the whistles and shouts.

Sirius pulled away gently from Harmony, breathing deeply, with both his arms still around her. He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers.

Harmony reached inside her pocket and gave the little firework to Sirius. "Do the honours?" She muttered, her words slurring a little, still drunk off of the firewhiskey, butterbeer, and most of all, Sirius. She didn't have as much alcohol as she expected she would, probably because she wanted to remember the first moments of the new year before she became too pissed to think straight.

Sirius just grinned, took the firework in his hand and whipped it over to the party on the deck. It landed in a puddle and before anyone could react, it exploded everywhere. It was the most magnificent firework any of them had ever seen. _So_ worth being hit on by that creepy oily guy selling the illegally made fireworks, Harmony thought.

Sirius ripped his eyes away from the endless bursting of colours and lights to a much better sight; Harmony. Her hair was a beautiful curly mess, face warm and glowing, everything about her took Sirius' breath away. She didn't even _try_. All her beauty was just natural. Sirius could see the bursting colours of the fireworks reflected in Harmony's eyes. He could also see all the happiness, excitement and mischief in them too, accompanied by the wicked grin she had glowing on her face.

Just then Sirius swung Harmony around to the back of the tree to where no one could see them again, ripping her attention back to Sirius. She didn't object whatsoever as he leaned down to kiss her cheek and then jaw. Harmony just pulled him closer to her body, if that was possible. She was pressed against the trunk as Sirius gave her a knee-weakening smile and kissed her again on the lips, the fireworks in her stomach matching the ones in the sky.

"Happy New Year, Harmony." He muttered, heat radiating off him to Harmony.

And between being under the fireworks and stars, the music playing loudly echoing around them, the hope of a new year, new beginnings, and that one perfect boy pressed flush against her, it was a very happy new year indeed.

* * *

_BANG_!

Harmony shot straight up in her warm bed, a dark sky beyond her window.

She wasn't concerned about how she got in her bed (she couldn't remember very much after Sirius and her had snogged)-

_WHOLY SHIT SHE SNOGGED SIRIUS BLACK!_

_SIRIUS_ _BLACK_!

THEY _KISSED_, AND IT WAS BLOODY _FANTASTIC_!

What's going to happen now? Shit, are they going to be friends? Or more? Harmony wondered frantically.

Her thoughts were stopped by another bang, similar to the one that woke her up moments before.

She turned to see her best friend, Becca, across the room, staring wide-eyed at Harmony. "Did you hear-"

"Shhh." Harmony put a finger to her lips, eyes sliding to the clock on the wall that read four am. She'd only been sleeping for about and hour and a half. And Harmony also noticed there was a smell fireworks in the room. Coming off her hair. That wasn't really a surprise, but it prodded more questions to form in her mind.

What had she _done_ last night? Or tonight? Or before she went to sleep? Whatever it was. She remembered kissing Sirius under the tree, fireworks, getting dared to do something and everyone chanting something like '_fly_, _fly_!'...she couldn't remember...and...someone threw her in the pond? _Awesome_. Harmony pulled her hand up to feel her hair, which was still a little damp. Bloody fantastic.

Harmony was ripped out of her confused thoughts by the hushed voices coming from the floor below. Hissing voices. Harsh voices. The worst part-familiar voices, ones she'd heard before. The deepest voice she'd heard in a dark, cold corridor, not very long ago, hovering over her hissing, _"Regret pissing us off now, don't you_?"

"I'll be right back." And before Becca could protest, Harmony whipped aside her covers and grabbed her wand. She crept noiselessly to the door.

After finding that the hallway was empty, she nearly bolted out, heading for her other friends' bedroom to see if they were okay.

Someone else had the same idea.

Harmony ran into something tall and solid with a familiar (and _very_ attractive) scent. Just the smell made Harmony's heart beat fast and her cheeks flush.

"Sirius, what's-" Harmony started, ignoring his drool-worthy bare chest, and the fact that she was wearing nothing but track pants and a tank top that she didn't remember putting on. Harmony quickly shoved the fabric down that was pushed up from sleeping to cover the bare skin of her exposed hip. Now was not the time to make Sirius look at her positively, not that she looked good with more skin showing... She could use hangover potion right now.

Harmony had to suppress the urge of vomiting even more when looked up to see terror and fury in Sirius' eyes. "They're here, Harmony. Death Eaters. They got past the enchantments. I saw them from my window. Meet me in your room." He said, voice trembling.

Harmony tried to ignore the pounding in her head as Sirius and her acted upon an untold agreement to rush around and alert the others.

Harmony burst into Lily and Liven's room to find them miraculously still sleeping soundly. "Lily, Liven, get up _now_." Harmony said in a scary-calm voice, shaking Liven violently.

"Wha-" Liven started.

"They're _here_, the Death Eaters. Sirius just saw them and I woke up to them blowing down the front door. Wake Lily now and come over to my room, _quickly_." Harmony threw a hoodie at Liven and ran out the door again. The harsh whispers were getting louder and closer.

She ran into her own room to find that all five of the other sleepy teenagers were frozen, wide-eyed with various looks of horror, fear, shock and anger on their faces.

Harmony went over to her trunk and pulled out a sweater, because she was freezing. Every movement was causing her pain in her head and stomach. All she really wanted to do was lie down and sleep for days. Maybe drink some coffee in the process.

Lily and Liven crept in, hissing. "In the next corridor. They're in the next corridor. How did they get in? What do they _want_?" Lily sounded close to tears. James got up and patted her on the back in a comforting way. She didn't protest.

"Apparate to Hogsmeade. Who knows how to apparate safely?" Sirius said, a determined look in his face.

Lily, James, Sirius and Remus raised their hands. The voices sounded outside their door. "They've got to be here somewhere! That List kid said she'd be spending New Year's at the Potter's with his little ex-girlfriend, the other mudblood."

Lily gasped. _List._ Her ex-boyfriend Korey List was now a Death Eater? "No-" she started, horrified, before James cut her off with a shush.

Suddenly, the door was blasted off its hinges, dust flying everywhere from the fractured walls. Lily screamed and frantically grabbed Liven as James groped through the dust for Peter, and Remus grabbed Becca. They all apparated at the same time to the safety of Hogsmeade in an instant and without a word.

"Sirius!" Harmony screamed, launching herself at Sirius.

A spell wizzed by her ear. She shot the nastiest hex she could think of back in that general direction with her wand. It must of hit because she heard a grunt and a thump. Loud, wicked laughter rung out through the dust.

"Going away so quick, are we? Like the little cowards you are." A high, mocking voice screeched.

Sirius stiffened. "_Bellatrix_." He said the name with such hate, such fury, that it sent chills down Harmony's spine. Sirius pulled out his wand.

"Oh, wittle Sirius! What a treat! Your mother will be happy it was me that got to finish you." Bellatrix emerged, along with Avery and Malfoy, and to to Harmony and Sirius' horror, there was also another seven Death Eaters emerging from the shadows.

Harmony tried her best to remain calm. She was terrified of things just appearing, emerging from the darkness. Especially if they're Death Eaters who out number you five to one, not counting the man lying unconscious on the ground, victim to Harmony's hex.

"So this is her? This is the girl?" Malfoy said in a bored tone.

"Sure is. She's the little piece of filth that survived our _encounter_ a couple weeks ago. Tell me, how are you healing up?" Avery mocked.

"Just perfect, thank you." Harmony hissed back, her hand tightly clutching Sirius' arm to prevent him from launching at his wicked cousin, Bellatrix.

"Good to know. We're here to speed up the healing process a little. I'm sure death will do it, right?" Avery grinned evilly.

"I don't believe that will be necessary." Harmony spat through her teeth, running her hand down Sirius' bare back, trying to do anything to distract him from his horrid blood-related cousin.

"Oh look at this!" Bellatrix screeched, her eyes upon Harmony's fingers behind Sirius' back. "A Black and a _mudblood_! You are a _disgrace_, Sirius! You shouldn't even be worthy of life, associating with things as dirty as her! _ROT IN HELL, THE BOTH OF YOU!_" Flames of fury danced in her eyes.

They were nothing compared to Sirius', though.

"_DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT_!" Sirius roared, charging forward and knocking Bellatrix right of her feet.

"_Sirius_!" Harmony screamed, blocking a spell from Malfoy, then another from Avery while they both advanced, the rest of their hooded and cloaked audience roaring with laughter.

Sirius wrestled Bellatrix down to the ground, but before he could use any spell against her, Harmony dodged Avery's curse and launched herself at Sirius, pushing him off. "She's not worth killing! Voldemort will do that and more when he finds out they didn't catch us! That's if they _actually_ don't catch us."

While Harmony's attention was on Sirius, she didn't see the curse shot at her by Avery.

As the curse hit her, Sirius grabbed Harmony's shoulder and apparated them to Hogsmeade.

They landed badly but thankfully no splints. Harmony tumbled over in a bush outside the Three Broomsticks, retching out her entire stomach onto the ground.

Blood was pouring out of her side, flowing freely down her ripped clothes from below her ribs, in the curve of her hip.

Someone held her up before she could collapse against the brick wall. "Sirius-" Harmony started.

Suddenly Dumbledore was there in his light blue dressing gown along with a couple Ministry officials.

He took one look at Harmony's deep gash in her side, the claw marks from Bellatrix's nails that ripped his flesh all down Sirius' chest and said, "A healer is in the castle now, along with the Minister."

"Okay I-" Sirius started.

"One thing, before you go. Which one of you were they looking for?" Dumbledore questioned.

Sirius looked baffled, but Harmony said loud and clear, "They were looking for _me_."

And that was when she felt the last of her remaining consciousness bleed from her body with the scarlet blood flowing freely from the wound in her side.

Maybe not such a happy new year after all.

**A\N- Happy (late) Easter! No excuses for the two day delay in uploading this chapter. I hope I made up for it! Next chapter will be up next Wednesday, as usual! Until then, lovelies.**


	10. Cuts and Corridors

Harmony Sea gasped awake, only to find that her surroundings weren't much better than they were in her dreams.

"I'm in this bloody place again? Talk about a record, wholy shit." Harmony muttered angrily, glaring up at the windows of the Hogwarts hospital wing and the dark, cloudy night sky behind them.

Someone snorted loudly. That someone was James. "Good morning, sunshine." He commented sarcastically.

"How long have I been out?" Harmony asked, sitting up, regardless the searing pain from her side.

"It's been about a day." James said, saying that it was about a day since Death Eaters got past the enchantments of the Potter's house on New Year's, at four am, and tried to kill Harmony.

"Wonderful. Time and date?" Harmony asked, pushing her untidy brown curls out of her face.

"About quarter after nine. On the third of January." James said casually.

"About a day? That's two days! I slept for two days?" Harmony asked in disbelief.

"They kept giving you sleep potion." James explained.

"Why in the world did they do that?" Harmony asked, checking under the sheets to see what the heck she was wearing, if anything. There was just a thin gown and her underclothing, all free of bloodstains.

"They figured you'd be an emotional wreck when you woke up, finding out that Voldemort's after you and all." James said, poking his finger through a hole in his jeans.

"What am I, a teapot? One drop and I'll shatter?" Harmony said in annoyance, peering down at her arms for any sign of damage. There was nothing but smooth pale skin there.

"You're just a right ray of sunshine, you know that?" James muttered, handing Harmony a cup of cold water from a little table beside the bed.

"Thanks." Harmony took a big gulp of water. "When can I leave this place?"

"Good question." James said dryly.

"_James_." Harmony warned, glaring at him from the bed to where he was sitting on a wooden stool.

"But you were so mean to me! Give me a break! Be nice!" James whined.

"You want a break? How about I demonstrate it on your neck, yeah?" Harmony said, glaring at James.

"I'm going to get you coffee. And I'll send it in with Sirius. I'm never taking shifts to watch you while you're in this place again." James said, standing up and making a beeline towards the double doors in the darkness.

"YES, that would be perfect, please. Coffee and-" Harmony stopped dead, her face turning scarlet.

_Was she actually about to say Sirius_?

James gave her a wink and called, "Did you get a chance to admire the tree by the pond in my yard at the party?"

"You shut up. Or I'll tell Lily that you have a shrine of her hidden under your bed, including her favourite blue knickers." Harmony threatened, still blushing.

"_You wouldn't_." James hissed.

"Oh, but I _would_." Harmony grinned in triumph.

Then James looked serious as he asked, "Are her favourite pair really blue?" James inched closer to Harmony.

"With white polka-dots." Harmony nodded sincerely, as if she wasn't feeding out lies and bullshit to this innocent boy who was in love with her best friend.

He didn't reply for a while. James just looked up and out the window, a dazed look on his face.

"I also might let slip that you were fantasizing about her in those little blue and white undies if you don't go get me caffeine now." Harmony prompted.

"Right!" James snapped back to reality and left the hospital wing swiftly, a slight blush rising on his cheeks.

Harmony was left to her thoughts about all that had happened within the last few days.

The party was great, from what she could remember. And _Sirius_. She had kissed Sirius. Under a tree. Under the fireworks. Under the stars. It was pretty much perfect. And he was a _damn_ good snogger. Like wholy _shit_.

Did Harmony fancy her best mate? Did her best mate fancy her? Sirius was the one who told her he was going to kiss her, after all. And he did. And it was amazing. It was think-about-it-for-weeks-and-have-butterflies-twen ty-four-seven amazing. His lips, nose, rough thumbs rubbing circles on the back of her neck, his hands on her back.

All she was sure about was that Harmony really wanted to have that experience with him again.

Ugh, she sounded like such a Sirius Black fangirl or something. The difference was Sirius was attractive to Harmony because of so much more than his looks, it was that whole other part of him. The kind, caring and genuinely funny part that had Harmony swooning.

_She just got attacked by Death Eaters and she was thinking about kissing Sirius?_ Harmony thought, annoyed at herself for being such a typical teenage girl.

Then Harmony started to worry. Were her family okay? Did the Death Eaters attack them in hopes of getting to Harmony? Harmony started to have a little panic attack. She got up out of the stiff, starch white, unfamiliar bed, her legs wobbly and unstable from sleeping for so long. Harmony almost collapsed at the sudden pain in her side. She glanced down to the curve of her hip where all the ache was coming from, and remembered Avery shooting a curse in her direction before Sirius apparated them away from the Potters' and to Hogsmeade.

She felt through the light fabric if her dressing gown and wasn't surprised to feel nothing but smooth skin there. No, the inside was damaged, not the outside. It was probably a deep cut, a cursed wound. The matron could do a lot with a wand and some healing spells, like closing a wound, but she couldn't do anything if it was cursed by dark magic.

Harmony tried to ignore her injury as she stumbled her way across the empty, dark and cold hospital wing. She needed to see Dumbledore, like _right_ away.

On a mission, she tentatively pushed open the large double doors leading out into the corridor and checked it for any sign of movement or another person. It was deserted.

Harmony felt a bit lonely, for it was only Thursday, and the rest of the Hogwarts School's student body arrived back from break on the coming Sunday.

Harmony wandered through the silent corridors, shivering in her night gown but still stopping to look though the clouds in hopes of seeing a star out of every window she passed.

It was quiet, peaceful, but still a bit eerie. That was why Harmony jumped about four feet when she heard someone speak.

"No shoes? Again? Why don't you ever wear shoes?" A voice asked, echoing down the corridor from the opposite end that Harmony was standing at.

She whipped her head around to see the silhouette of Sirius. "If I'd seen them, I would've worn them. But seeing as someone dressed me in a gown that makes me feel like I belong in St. Mungo's, I didn't think they'd leave my interestingly-decorated trainers behind. Probably sturdy and practical slippers or something." Harmony said, as Sirius approached, bringing a steaming mug in hand and the strong, heavenly smell of coffee with him.

Sirius put the mug down on the windowsill and turned to Harmony, arms crossed. "Twice in two weeks, Harmony. Just this time there was more blood."

"You lot are insane. It wouldn't have even a big deal if I had woken up a day ago, instead if being drugged out by more sleep potion. Bloody idiots think I'd be mentally unstable, like a child losing a teddy bear." Harmony glared out the window.

"Well, at least you're personality didn't change. Still full of your little temper and sassafrasing." Sirius grinned down at Harmony.

"Yeah yeah whatever. What happened to me, anyway?" Harmony asked honestly.

"That Avery bloke hit you with some dark curse that creates deep, cursed wounds that are almost impossible to heal. Like a sword...kind of." Sirius said like he was reciting a textbook page, all the concern easing back into his face at his own words.

"Brilliant!" Harmony said in mock-cheerfulness. "And my family? Are they okay?" She added on in a worried tone, her face darkening.

"They're fine. No attacks or attempted attacks." Sirius said soothingly, rubbing Harmony's shoulder.

"Can I go back to my dorm to change? I hate nightgowns. They create unnecessary coldness and discomfort." Harmony complained, trying to hide the enormous relief in her voice unsuccessfully.

"Sure. Just don't tell Madam Pomfrey. You're most definitely not allowed out of the hospital wing. But because you'd probably hex me if I tried to stop you, I have no choice but to join you." Sirius sighed, slipping an arm around Harmony, supporting her as she struggled to walk in the most painless way.

Sirius' arm made her think of just two days ago, when that arm was also around her then, the owner's soft lips pressed against her own. Harmony's cheeks flushed at the memory and she was suddenly glad that it was dark.

"Is everybody else here, too?" Harmony asked quietly.

"Yup. They're all in the common room. And I think Lily went to the library." Sirius answered, rubbing Harmony's back in an attempt to keep her warm.

"Was anyone hurt? We're _you_ hurt?" Harmony suddenly realized that Sirius could have very well been hurt too, as he and Bellatrix sort of got in a one-sided fistfight.

She stopped dead, slipped out of Sirius's arm to survey him.

"No, I'm fine. No lasting damage." Sirius smiled down at Harmony's concerned face.

"You got clawed, didn't you?" Harmony asked, pulling at the bottom of Sirius' t-shirt.

"Look, they're not bad. Just a couple of scratches." Sirius said, pulling Harmony's hand away.

"Sirius, let me see." Harmony said sternly.

"No." He said a childish voice.

"They're bad, aren't they?" Harmony asked, whispering.

"No. Let's go, you're cold." Sirius tried to pull Harmony away, but she stood her ground with surprising strength.

"_Sirius_." Harmony hissed, tried to pull his shirt off unsuccessfully.

"Fine!" He said loudly back, pulling his shirt off. "Look, they're not bad."

In fact, they were quite the opposite. Long, deep scratches ran down his bare chest to his low stomach. They were purple and scabbed over now, but it looked as though they gave him quite some pain before, maybe even still did. "Why didn't you go to the hospital wing, Sirius?"

"Because you needed more looking after than I did." Sirius simply said honestly, trying to cover the scratches up.

"Bloody caring git." Harmony mumbled, half mad at Sirius for not caring for himself before her.

"Hey-" Sirius said.

"Shh-" Harmony cut him off. She took Sirius' wand from his hand and moved his arms gently away from his chest.

Harmony could feel Sirius's intense gaze on her as she whispered mumbled healing spells and trailed the wand slowly down the cuts, one by one. The wounds closed, the skin growing over smoothly, only leaving faint scars behind.

Harmony finished, and looked up at Sirius. He was looking a her with something odd in his eyes. Concern? Gratitude? Admiration? Was he just simply studying her reaction? She'd seen the emotion on his face and in his eyes before, but never had she understood it.

"There, you're better now." Harmony breathed out, trying to not get lost in his eyes as she gazed right back at him.

Harmony shifted her gaze to the scars on Sirius' chest. Then back out the window. She couldn't stand it, Harmony had to look away. Or she'd probably kiss him again. She didn't think he wanted that. Harmony was probably just the closest girl to Sirius that night, and he wanted a New Year's kiss. And he was drunk. Did he even remember it? A weight dropped in her stomach. _What if he didn't remember it?_

All her thoughts were brought to an abrupt stop when Sirius placed a finger on the bottom on her jaw and guided her eyes back to his. "What's wrong?" He asked worriedly, his eyes now searching her's for any clue as to why she had felt crushed a moment before.

Harmony just closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't look at Sirius. She couldn't look at how his shaggy wavy black hair fell into his eyes. She couldn't look at his breathtaking grey eyes now swirling with concern, either. She couldn't look at his pink lips, the very same lips that had her thinking non-stop about him. The very lips that had kissed so many girls before, she kept reminding herself.

Suddenly, Harmony felt warm breath tickle her nose. She had half a second's notice before a pair of lips were pressed gently against her's. A familiar pair of soft lips that she would recognize anywhere; Sirius'.

Before Harmony had any time to process that Sirius was kissing her again, he pulled back too quick.

Harmony opened her eyes which were now bright. Her eyes found Sirius', as she trailed her fingers feather-light down his chest, where they found themselves in the grooves of his scars. He shivered, leaned closer, and placed a hand on Harmony's good hip, the other in her hair.

Harmony trailed her hands back up one more time, and left them on Sirius' broad shoulders. Using them, she pushed herself up to try to capture his lips again. Harmony flinched violently at the searing pain from her side when she tried to stretch upwards.

"Don't," Sirius muttered, easing her back down with both hands wrapped around her. He then proceeded to lean down far enough so she didn't have to go on her tippy-toes.

Harmony smiled slightly and closed her eyes. She leaned in this time, and when their lips brushed, a warm sensation filled her body, from her scalp to her toes.

Then Sirius kissed her full on the mouth again, and all bets were off. Kissing Sirius was like a drug, a potion. It took Harmony from reality, made her forget everything from Voldemort to the four waiting essays she had to complete. It was even better when she was sober, when her senses were sharper, so she could truly appreciate him.

Sirius pulled back to catch his breath and kiss Harmony's jawline. Harmony tried to catch her breath and make her heart slow down, for it was beating so fast it was getting painful.

Harmony pulled Sirius' jaw back up slowly, looked into his glowing grey eyes again, and kissed him. He didn't reject in the slightest. His arm wrapped around her waist tighter, pressing their hips against each other, and the other went up to hold her jaw, his thumbs making slow cirlcles on Harmony's cheek as they kissed.

"Sirius! Harm-_oh_." Liven stopped dead in her screeching, Lily, Alice, Becca, James, Peter, Remus, Dumbledore and the Hogwarts matron also froze. Well, not Dumbledore. He just stopped as if he expected to find Harmony and shirtless Sirius wrapped around each other, snogging rather passionately.

"Found them!" A member of the group called, and snorts and giggles erupted from Harmony and Sirius' friends.

Harmony stepped out of Sirius' arms, her face bright red, heart pounding and lips tingling along with her waist and cheek where Sirius' hands were a moment before.

"_There should be none of that_! Miss Sea is nowhere close to recovery! The _last_ thing she needs-" Madam Pomfrey started, her voice rising steadily.

"It's young love, Poppy. Let them be. Mister Black is well aware of Miss Sea's current state." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled like the stars behind the clouds.

"Uh-" Harmony interjected, as Sirius put his shirt back on, her face now in a competition with the Gryffindor banners. The smirks, knowing grins and barely-suppressed laughter of the pair's group of friends weren't helping matters much.

It took all Harmony had to keep her thoughts inside her mind. They were buzzing like a pack of angry bees, bouncing off the walls of her head.

_She just kissed Sirius again!_

_That was amazing!_

_Wholy shit he was good at snogging-_

"Come back to the hospital wing, Miss Sea. We need to get you warm and back to sleep." The matron said sternly, looking like a scary mother and pulling Harmony out of her Sirius-filled mind.

"I am _not_ being put back to sleep in the hospital wing. If I'm to sleep, it will be in my own dorm, in my own night clothes and without potions." Harmony said, her temper flaring dangerously. She felt Sirius' hand brush against in a warning that clearly said, _Watch it, don't go pissing off the matron now. _Harmony almost smiled.

"_Do not be difficult, Miss Sea_. Come with me now, please." Madam Promfrey said, wagging her finger.

Before Harminy could reply, Dumbledore cut in. "As it seems Miss Sea thinks she is fit to get back to normal, that will be the case." He turned from the outraged matron to Harmony, who was still standing very close to Sirius and suppressing the urge to glance at him. "You may go back to your dorm as you wish. If the need was to arrive, potion to deal with the pain will be in the hospital wing."

"Thank you, Professor." Harmony tried to contain the ha-I'm-fine attitude from her voice and smiled instead.

Then the matron stomped off, with mutterings like, 'last time I checked I was the Hogwarts matron' and 'they cannot blame me if she gets even more wounded'.

"Although I have granted you permission to leave the wing, I trust you will be cautious with yourself." Dumbledore spun on Sirius, "And you will watch her, for her health needs to be restored, because both attacks have had a toll on her body, no doubt."

And with that, Dumbledore turned away and swiftly walked down the corridor from where he came, his cloak swishing and barely catching Sirius' "Yes, sir."

Everyone left stood in silence, waiting for someone to crack the first snogging joke. The pair's mates were grinning at Sirius and Harmony expectantly, eyes flying between them.

"Right, you wanted proper clothing?" Sirius turned to Harmony, his face still pink.

"Oh, is _that_ what you working at? I was under the impression you wanted to take them off her." James commented, to which everyone but Harmony and Sirius burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Shut it, you lot." Sirius half-heartedly scolded. He then proceeded to shove laughing James into the wall, hitting a suit of armour. It crashed over with a lot of clanging, the sound echoing all around them.

Before Harmony walked back to her friends, she grabbed the now just warm mug of coffee off the windowsill.

"Wow, she chose you over the coffee, Sirius. You should be proud." Becca said, and the whole group (minus Sirius and Harmony again) started laughing again.

Immature jokes like these kept up until the nine Gryffindors reached their common room.

The girls and boys went their separate ways up their own dormitory stairs. When the still-blushing Harmony and her mates arrived inside their warm, fire-lit bed quarters, and the door was closed, questions flew around the room.

"Is he a good snogger?"

"How are you feeling?"

"How many times did you kiss?"

"Was it _magical_?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Alice tearfully asked this question, launching herself at Harmony and hugging her tight. "Oh, I got so worried, Harmony, when I found out. I left and came here as soon as I could."

"No comment, just peachy, no comment, no comment and yes, Alice. I'll be making a full recovery." Harmony replied to their questions, hugging Alice back but then detaching herself. She eased down to her trunk on the ground which probably was retrieved from the Potter's after the Death Eaters left.

Harmony pulled out a pair of fuzzy pyjama pants and an old hoodie. Slipping the ugly gown off and her own clothes on, she asked Lily, "Can I borrow a quill and some parchment? I need to write James' parents and tell them I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Harmony." Lily said sternly, but still reaching for her school bag.

Harmony settled down at the old wooden desk in the dorm, covered with scratches and names carved in by wands or sharp quills. Harmony started to write:

_Dear Charles and Grace,_

_I just wanted to say thank you again for inviting everyone to your wonderful home, and I'm really very sorry about the destruction from the Death Eaters, as I'm the reason they came. I will send gold to pay for the damage and I hope they didn't decide to harm or take anything else. Those bloody idiots will be soon off to Azkaban, I know, because you both are really fantastic aurors (sorry for the language)._

_Happy New Year,_

_Harmony Sea_

After Harmony was satisfied with the letter, she aired the parchment so the ink would dry, folded it and tucked it in an envelop. Marching over to her trunk (and wincing only a couple of times), Harmony pulled out two handfuls of gold, shoved them in a pouch, and gave both the envelop and the pouch to her owl, Kingsley, who was sitting peacefully on the windowsill, to deliver.

"Bring this to the Potters, please. James' parents." Harmony instructed the owl. Then she realized something. "Hey, why is my owl even in here?"

"You parents sent you a letter a little while ago, and Kingsley insisted upon staying." Lily called from the bathroom.

Harmony picked up the sealed letter left on her pillow. Reading it over, it was written in Harmony's mother's neat and curly handwriting. The content was asking about if Harmony's okay, how worried they were, they love her, if she ever wanted to come home she could. Harmony's heart swelled at her mother's heart-felt words, and she wrote back a quick reply saying that she was okay and would return back to full health soon. She told her mother that she loved them all and not to worry.

"Everything okay?" Liven asked, rubbing Harmony's back.

"Yeah, I just had to let them know I was okay." Harmony explained. Then she sighed, the blush returning to her cheeks. She looked up at Liven, the girl with the most experience with boys, and said in disbelief, "Sirius kissed me multiple times, Liven."

Liven nodded. "Yup, I knew we'd discuss this sooner than later. How about somewhere private?" Liven asked, pulling Harmony to her feet. "We're going down to the kitchens, ladies!" She called to the girls around the room.

"Okay!" Becca called back from her spot on her bed, nose buried in a book.

The girls made their way down to the common room, then out into the corridor. "Well, we all saw this coming. So, New Year's and today, right?" Liven started.

"Yeah...on New Year's we just sort of, I don't know, leaned in and he told me he was going to kiss me. And it was _really_ good, Liven." Harmony whined.

"I bet. But you were half-drunk. What about today in the hall? What happened?" Liven asked.

"We were just talking-" Harmony decided not to mention Sirius' cuts, for she felt that it was just something between her and Sirius. "-and I had closed my eyes for half a second, and he just kissed me. And then...gah this is weird."

"No, it's not. I'm a girl. A girl who snogs boys daily. Spit it out, woman." Liven said.

"And then we kissed, and it turned into a snog, I guess." Harmony finished lamely.

"Oh, we saw that part, love." Liven chuckled.

"Was it that bad?" Harmony asked in a shy voice, enough heat radiating off her face to defrost the entire North Pole.

"No, no. It was actually so cute. You were all wrapped up in each other, and, ugh, I want a boy to hold _me_ like that. I wish I had a camera because it was like a scene from a muggle film, kissing in the moonlight." Liven snorted.

"Liven!" Harmony scolded, tying to hold in a smile.

"Is he any good?" Liven asked, sobering up.

"Shit, yeah." Harmony said instantly, recalling the softness of Sirius' lips, the gentle but mischievous way he kissed her, how their lips moved so naturally together. "I bet he's had loads of practice, though. Have you ever snogged him, Liven?"

"Once, I think. Fourth year. We were drunk at a party after Gryffindor won a Quidditch match. We didn't do anything, it was just in the common room with everybody else at the party." Liven told her honestly. The girls reached the painting of the pear and Harmony reached out to tickle it. It swung forward revealing the deserted kitchens.

"Do you think he fancies me, Liven? Even a little?" Harmony asked.

"Yeah, I definitely think he does. I have never seen Sirius black treat anyone the way he treats you. Your relationship with him is so true, so loyal and so different than anything I've ever seen, to be honest. But that's my opinion." Liven used her wand to boil water for tea, and in Harmony's case, coffee.

Liven handed Harmony a mug a minute later after making her way around the kitchen to grab the necessities for coffee and tea. Harmony considered Liven's words as she sipped her coffee quietly. "Was Lily upset? About Korey helping the Death Eaters?"

"She wasn't upset, it was more like fury. That's what it seemed like when she told Dumbledore. We still don't even know when he joined. Or if he actually did. Maybe it was forced out of him for all we know." Liven took sip of her warm drink, tossing her straight dark hair over her shoulder. "He might've also given them the information because he was really pissed at Lily for going to James' house for New Year's."

"Perhaps. But I think Korey definitely would have been a Slytherin if he didn't love learning and his education so much. So, perhaps not." Harmony sighed and rubbed her side, where a dull ache was getting steadily more prominent the longer she sat at the little table.

"Let's talk about something cheerful, yeah? I'm getting depressed." Liven said. "So, where'd you get that firework? The one you let loose at James'?"

And so the subject was changed and Harmony and Liven laughed and joked, trying to forget their problems for a little while.

* * *

"Damn it, Harmony." Harmony muttered to herself quietly, as to not wake anyone else while turning over in her bed to look out at the snow falling in the dark outside their dormitory window. Liven and her had come back from the kitchens only an hour before. Harmony _should've_ been tired at this hour. But after sleeping for two days, it was kind of hard to be. It didn't help that her stupid brain was caught up in the 'what-if's and 'might-happen's.

Truthfully, only now did Harmony actually feel like crying. Not all for herself, but because she was worried shitless about her family, her friends, the war.

Her whole family were muggles. They were easy targets. Loved ones and friends dying was the only thing that could really break Harmony.

Her brain was especially keen on torturing her with images of her little sister, Charlotte's, dead and mangled body lying lifeless on a stone floor, Bellatrix Lestrange's laugher echoing around in Harmony's head.

"That's _it_." Harmony got up too quickly, and toppled back down because of the pain in her side. "Why am I crying? There's no bloody need to cry." She was muttering to herself as she stumbled to the large window, displaying the cold dark snowy sky above.

Harmony glanced back to the clock hanging on the wall. It was two am. It's official: she was nocturnal. Harmony thought to herself, trying to desperately trick her brain into thinking about something else. _Anything_ else.

It didn't work.

Her mother, her brother, her father. Little Charlotte, innocent and incredibly beautiful Charlotte. James. Remus. Peter. Alice. Lily. Becca. Liven. Sirius.

Their bodies flashed by quick in Harmony's head, each looking as though they'd been through their own type of hell.

"_Stop it_!" Harmony hissed to herself once again, her voice cracking. Great. Now she's bloody talking to herself, too.

Harmony banged her head against the window, willing the tears to stay in her eyes. Why was the emotional part of the attacks coming to her now, at two am? If she was up, she should have been at least thinking about something nice, like snogging Sirius.

Too bad she'd already cleared that subject five times over in her head previously.

_And this is just starting to stir up. Two attacks already! That must be some sort of record. _Harmony thought. A sob escaped her. Her heart ached at the fact that this was only the beginning of the war. What were the chances of her and everyone she loved getting out of this war alive? Slim. _Very_ slim.

Harmony suddenly found herself wiping tears furiously from her eyes, her lips trembling as she tripped over to the dormitory door and down the stairs to the deserted common room.

She slipped through the large room, the fires dim and wind from the snowstorm outside howling and beating the windowpanes to their limits. Harmony stumbled up the stairs to the boys' dorm rooms, trying to cry as quietly as possible. If she absolutely _had_ to cry, then it had to be done quietly, at the least.

Opening the doors to the marauder's dorm room, Harmony sniffled, the tears falling to fast and freely now to stop them.

And there stood Sirius at the end of his bed, arms open and waiting for her, the dull moonlight reflecting off the snow out the window making his figure sort of silhouette-like.

"I heard you." He said simply as Harmony made a beeline for him.

"Probably." Harmony choked out, suppressing a sob. But as soon as she got up close to Sirius and looked in his eyes, and saw all the grey swirling in a storm of concern, she couldn't suppress it anymore. Sobs came out, tears flowed, her body shaking. Harmony began to truly realize that there was a dangerous war coming on, coming on fast and dangerous.

Sirius wrapped his strong arms around her, and hugged her to him tightly, supporting her as her knees gave out from the pain in her side and the sudden exhaustion. Harmony just buried herself in him, inhaling his scent until she calmed down. She could feel his soft breath tickling the back of her neck as he muttered soothingly to her.

Sirius picked Harmony up gently by the waist, and brought her over to his bed. His smell was overpowering, and it brought Harmony extreme comfort as she laid down on the squishy mattress. Sirius slipped in with her as Harmony moved closer to his warm body. His eyes glowed in the dark as she felt him studying her.

Harmony thought must have looked like hell, with the darkness under her eyes, tears streaming down her face from her big, red-rimmed eyes.

What she didn't know, however, is that Sirius still thought she looked beautiful. Even when she was so venerable like this, so different to the strong, brave and daring Harmony he saw everyday. It made him feel just a bit warmer inside to know that she came looking for him, not her friends or any of the other marauders. Just him, the boy who she'd kissed back. Just him, Sirius Black, the boy who was falling for this oddly perfect Harmony Sea even more everyday.

Harmony didn't mind that this being wrapped around each other in Sirius' bed should've been awkward for them, as they'd snogged just hours before. Instead, Harmony and Sirius laid in a comfortable silence, watching the snow outside swirl and blow down in huge amounts without mercy. And just as Harmony was finally falling asleep, she felt the light brush of lips on her cheekbone and Sirius whispering, "Sweet dreams, Harms."

**A/N- Someone asked me in a review how many chapters I was planning on having... and honestly, I have no idea. I don't even have a path planned out for this story. I mean, I know the outcome and a couple key elements, but nothing more. Ask me what will happen with the Death Eaters? I haven't the foggiest. I just keep adding to it and building it up every time I write.**

**Anyway, thank you guys ****_so_**** much for the reviews, follows and favourites. It makes my day a billion times better when I see someone else has read my writing and left me a review. Thank you all!**


	11. Fingers and Fury

"Ready?" Sirius Black asked Harmony Sea from the doorway of his dorm.

"Yeah," Harmony said back, standing up from her spot on Sirius' bed, where she slept last night.

Not like _that_. He was just comforting her, because she sort of broke down at two am without any real warning.

So that's why Harmony found herself in Sirius' arms last night, when she really couldn't hold her emotions in anymore.

Huh, Madam Pomfrey might've been onto something with being unstable after Harmony finally woke up the day before from two days worth of sleep (aided by some potion).

Harmony had stumbled into Sirius' room, a bloody right _mess_, and he had gladly comforted her while she realized that this Voldemort guy was not just shits and giggles anymore, nor was he ever. He was out for _blood_. And this time it just happened to be Harmony's.

When the pair woke up the next morning, it wasn't really awkward, which greatly surprised Harmony. She just felt at ease, safe, comfortable with Sirius by her side. The rest of the marauders had already gone down to breakfast when Sirius woke Harmony up, which Harmony was surprised he had the balls to do in the first place because Harmony was known to be rather _frightening_ when she woke up.

Harmony stood up and followed Sirius out of the dorm room. She must've looked like a right sight then, dark circles under her eyes despite all the sleep, hair a rat's nest of long brown curls, pyjamas wrinkled and wearing only a pair of socks, no trainers.

Sirius put an arm around Harmony to help her down the stairs, as the wound in her side from Avery's dark curse hadn't healed anymore since yesterday.

"Thanks, Sirius." Harmony mumbled when they reached the bottom.

"No problem, Harmful." He said back easily, shoving his hands deep in his pockets as they exited through the portrait hole.

"And, uh, thanks for being there last night. Maybe I am unstable. Anyway, sorry to wake you and stuff." Harmony looked down, slightly embarrassed at her sobbing and sniffling all over Sirius at two am.

"Hey, it's okay. You had every right to be upset, got it? Thank _you_ for coming to me about it, and not just holding it in like I know you usually do." Sirius placed a hand on Harmony's shoulder as they turned a corner, walking down another corridor towards the Great Hall.

Harmony just nodded then smiled. "I'm really grateful for you, you know. Even if I'm mean to you sometimes." She said, bumping her hip on Sirius' in a playful gesture.

Sirius bumped her hip back. "Why thank you. I need a moment to burn that into my memory. Hold on." Sirius stopped and closed his eyes, smiling.

"You're such a tool, Sirius Black." Harmony sighed, grinning at Sirius as a best mate would.

"Tools are rather useful. So I think I'll take that as a compliment." Sirius opened his eyes and continued to walk, grinning widely.

"You know what? I reckon this place needs a little _bang_." Harmony grinned evilly and pulled a firework out of her shirt. "Hey Sirius, do you remember that time when we were trapped in that cupboard hiding from those Slytherins and my fireworks went off?" Harmony laughed.

Sirius did, too. "Oh Merlin, I almost forgot about that! That was so bloody funny! We were just becoming friends then. Then remember you got drunk on the first weekend into school? And you came to our room while drunk. That was hilarious." Sirius chuckled and threw an arm around Harmony.

"Well, I don't remember much of it, to be honest. I just remember waking up next to you and almost shitting myself." Harmony laughed, still fingering the little firework in her hand while Sirius grinned. "So, how about we give little old Hogwarts a firework show?"

Sirius' eyes lit up. "Yeah! But we should wait until the whole school gets back so everyone can see it."

"True. Maybe it'll stray the gossip to a different subject other than..." Harmony started, then trailed off, suddenly remembering her current situation and becoming angry and stressed once again. "Those snake-tits are going to ruin my life." Harmony declared finally.

"No. You have me." Sirius said confidently, running a hand down her soft cheek for a moment. "And your family, and all those losers in the Great Hall."

"I don't think they're the losers in this situation, Sirius." Harmony joked, looking up at him with a smile dancing on her lips.

"Hey!" Sirius started half-heartedly, but then the pair arrived at the Great Hall and Harmony's heart dropped at the thought of all her friends expecting answers, her peers whispering about her behind their hands, and the teachers surveying her, analyzing her to make sure she wouldn't drop dead or have a melt down. Or both, but not in that order.

"Sirius, I don't want to go in."

"There's not even fifty people in there, Harms. You'll be fine." Sirius whispered, pushing open the doors and proceeding to shove her through.

People looked as they walked in. The pair must have been an odd sight, after all. Sirius Black, hottest guy at Hogwarts, walking with his arm around Harmony Sea, the odd little unpopular pyromaniac bookworm with the bruises and crazy hair. Well, maybe she wasn't so unknown as she was, for becoming best mates (and possibly more?) with Sirius Black was a good way to boost your popularity. Harmony didn't really like it very much, to be honest. Her beeswax was her beeswax. No one needed to know anything else. Suddenly, Harmony was really, really glad that only her friends (and Dumbledore and the matron) knew about her and Sirius kissing.

"Sirius-" Harmony hissed between her teeth, as people openly gaped at the bruises that still faintly marked her face and collarbones from the first attack. Harmony was really glad that the new curse hit her in a place that wasn't exposed.

"Keep walking, Harms. Ignore them. They're like five." Sirius said, referring to the first years following the pair with their eyes.

"_So_ glad you're okay. Wouldn't want you hurt or anything." An annoying, stuck up fourth-year bitch by the name of Tianna called out to Harmony as she passed.

Rage filled Harmony. Before she had a chance to say anything back, however, Sirius pulled her to the opposite end of the Gryffindor table to where their friends sat.

Harmony walked a little infront of Sirius, her own friends trying not to stare because Harmony did look a bit like death when they saw her in the daylight.

Then finally averting their eyes from their friend, Harmony's room mates glared at Sirius. Of course. They thought that Harmony and Sirius had, well..._yeah_.

Sirius just shook his head madly, furrowing his eyebrows together to say, _You bloody idiots really think I would take advantage of her like that?_

They relaxed, but when Liven opened her mouth to say something, to ask questions no doubt, Sirius gestured wildly for them to keep quiet. Harmony didn't need to be drilled right then. Or ever.

"Hey, guys." Harmony said, slightly monotonously, sitting down and reaching immediately for the coffee.

"Hey, Harms. How're you feeling?" Becca said cautiously.

"Just perfect." Harmony added cream and sugar to her mug.

"Harmony, you don't have to lie-" Becca started.

"I'm not saying anything about myself with that little gossiping _bitch_ sitting down the bench, no doubt listening in on our conversation." Harmony said loudly.

Tianna stood up with a bang, sent a withering glare in Harmony's direction and grabbed her croonie's arm.

"Leaving so soon? I hope you feel better!" Harmony called loudly and sarcastically.

Tianna just bolted for the door, her friend barely keeping up with her.

James choked with laughter on his breakfast toast and Sirius snorted rather unattractively. "That sarcasm and temper combination will be the death of you." Lily sighed, taking a bite of her eggs.

"Better that than that mouldy snake." Harmony commented, chewing her waffle.

Liven, who was sitting beside Harmony, leaned over and sniffed Harmony when the others went back to eating or chit-chatting again. "You smell like a man."

"Uh-" Harmony started, her face heating up. "Well-"

"You slept with Sirius, didn't you?" Liven asked grinning.

Harmony choked on her coffee. "Uh-define sleep."

"The literal way, you ninny. I know you value yourself a bit more than _that._" Liven rolled her eyes.

"Thank you. I was going to say..." Harmony trailed off.

"Don't avoid the question."

"Yeah, so we slept in the same bed. Nothing more. Gosh, you people are nuts." Harmony said, half annoyed. "Right, I'm going down to the kitchens to request chicken soup for lunch." Harmony stood up and made her way out of the hall as fast she could, sick of people already.

Walking down the cold and semi-dark corridors (there was still a raging snowstorm going on outside), Harmony was strongly reminded of all the days she'd wandered the corridors of Hogwarts previously, not afraid of someone attacking her. Not afraid of Voldemort attacking her. Or her family.

Harmony heard hurried footsteps behind her, and before she had time to react, a body was slamming into her, an elbow emitting a sharp blow to the curve of Harmony's hip, right in where the curse was still healing.

"_Ouch_!" Harmony exclaimed, the pain dizzying. "What the _hell_ is wrong with you?"

"Oh, dear me. Did I _hurt_ you? My bad." An annoyingly high-pitched voice said. Then the body and voice had a face. A rather unpleasant one, at that.

"Tianna, right?" Harmony smiled entirely falsely, stumbling over to the wall and holding herself up, trying to ignore the blinding pain from her side.

_What kind of fucking curse did that asshole use? Was it supposed to hurt this much, even from such a weak elbow in the side? Why the hell wasn't it healing? _Harmony thought.

"Yes, but I don't exactly consider you worthy enough to know it, being a _mudblood_ and all." Tianna whispered the last part, her makeup cracking around her mouth as she smiled, showing off her yellow mossy teeth.

"Wholy shit, ever heard of personal hygiene?" Harmony muttered.

"Excuse me?" Tianna started, but then went on blabbing. "I think you need to stay away from Sirius. It's standard girl code. He's _mine_. Everyone knows we have a _thing_."

"You're a _girl_?" Harmony interjected, seriously. "That's why you wear makeup!"

"Shut the _hell_ up, got it? Or maybe I'll arrange an encounter with the Death Eaters. Hopefully they can actually get you this time." Tianna smiled horribly, poking Harmony's collarbone painfully where a bruise was just fading.

"Do whatever the hell you want. They can take me, whatever. They won't get far, but they can try." Harmony said, realizing that it was true.

"Oh yeah? How would you do that? You think you're so great, don't you?" Tianna crossed her arms.

Prickles of pain were creeping up around Harmony's body from her side, but she was determined not to let it show. "No, but the people I know are. You really think my mates and Dumbledore would just sit back and watch me get taken away? That's cute."

"I think you're speaking before you know anything about what they'd do." Tianna said lamely.

"Well I guess it's a good thing you do, being _so_ close to my best mates and all." Harmony said sarcastically. "And why am I discussing this? You're just a little jealous fourth-year. Get over yourself, kid."

"_Get over myself_?" Tianna screeched in outrage. "_You're_ the one prancing around like you and Sirius Black know each other personally, like he actually _likes_ you! Like you've gotten close, like you've even snogged him! He's just using you because you have an older sister that he used to date and he wants to get back together with her! My friend told me so!"

Harmony started laughing. And laughing _hard_. "Oh my- I can't even-" Harmony was experiencing extreme pain from laughing, but she found she couldn't stop because Tianna's theory was so ridiculous. "Oh my _shit_ that's good. I am so putting that at the top of my ridiculous gossip piece this week. I'll have Sirius and James beaten for sure."

"What do you mean?" Tianna screeched again, clearly not pleased with Harmony's reaction at all.

"_I don't even have an older sister_!" Harmony yelled, breaking into hysterical laughter once again.

"What?" Tianna asked dumbly before fury melted onto her features. "You are worthless, and the faster Voldemort gets rid of you the better! _And I hope your family and friends go the same way_!"

Footsteps sounded from behind her, and Harmony stopped laughing immediately at Tianna's words. That hit a nerve, for that very subject was the reason Harmony had been stressed out incredibly and had found herself in Sirius' arms late last night. "You can say what you want about me, Tianna, but you cannot say _anything_ about my family or friends." Harmony stood up to her fullest hight, regardless of the pain, and leaned down over Tianna, who was two years younger and quite a bit shorter. "I don't think you realize what you just said, do you? You want my family and friends to die simply because they have a relation to me? I have a six-year old sister. She doesn't even know who Voldemort is. Her name is Charlotte and has brown curly hair, blue eyes and a perfect little smile. She's also showing promising signs of being a witch. You want a perfectly innocent little girl to be subjected to the same terrible fate that Voldemort seems to be giving out because she's my sister? What kind of monster are you? Maybe next time you'll keep your mouth fucking _shut_, instead of flapping it off and wishing terrible things upon people you don't even know personally." Harmony finished, now yelling forcefully.

Tianna was shaking slightly, suddenly a bit terrified of the sixteen-year old girl in front if her.

"Harmony." A voice whispered in Harmony's ear, fingers moving hair out from her eyes. Sirius' voice. Sirius' fingers. He placed his strong arms around Harmony's waist, pulling her back from Tianna, back towards him.

Tianna took one look at Sirius' hands and burst out screeching, "She's no good for you, Sirius! She's not worth you! She's a muggleborn! And you're a pureblood Black! Don't mix with her kind, mix with me! I'm a pureblood and a Gryffindor, too!"

"You don't talk about Harmony like that! She's worth a million of you, and you deserved every word you got from her." Sirius hissed dangerously, glaring.

Remus, Peter and James were there, too. "Sirius, just get Harmony out of here, now please." Remus said calmly.

So, Sirius guided Harmony away from Tianna who was being talked to by Remus, and still looked mildly terrified.

Harmony was shaking with built up fury. "Harmony, it's okay. Shh." Sirius said, still quickly guiding her away, both arms around her.

"That little _bitch_." Harmony was hissing curses under her breath, as she reached into the waistband of her pyjama pants and took out a box of matches that rested next to her wand.

"Harms-no, I don't think we should-" Sirius started, eyes following Harmony's still shaking fingers as she struck the match on the side of the box, creating flame.

"I need a distraction, Sirius. Or I-" What Harmony was going to say next was never found out, for in one swift moment, Sirius had blown out the flame of the match and had Harmony against the stone wall of the corridor.

"How about I be your distraction?" He whispered in Harmony's ear, his hands finding her hips.

"I think you'd do just fine." Harmony breathed out.

And then Sirius' lips were on Harmony's, kissing her, filling her with that potion, that drug, making her forget everything else but Sirius, his lips, fingers, hair, eyelashes brushing along Harmony's...just Sirius.

Just Sirius.

* * *

"He lives! Did you guys die? Or shag?" James grinned at Sirius as Sirius walked into the dorm well after lunch time and mind still completely on the one and only Harmony Sea.

"Prongs. That's not funny." Sirius muttered, walking over to his unmade bed and pulling his jumper off.

"Well, you seem to be getting rather _close_ with her lately, so I had to ask. Was she alright after you took her away?" James asked seriously.

"Yeah, uh, she was fine after a while. She just had to calm down." Sirius collapsed down on his bed, remembering the sweetness of Harmony's lips, cheeks, hips, and long heavenly smelling hair.

"Oh? How did you manage that?" James asked innocently, sitting in his bed and studying Sirius with wide-eyes.

Sirius sat up and looked at James. "Don't play stupid, James Potter. You know perfectly well how we managed that."

"Is she a good snogger?" James asked, dropping the innocent act and bouncing slightly on his bed. Remus and Peter were also listening in on the conversation.

"What use would that information be to you?" Sirius asked, collapsing back on the bed once more, breathing in Harmony's scent from his very own pillow that she had used.

"Well, it saves me or another bloke having to find out by experience." James said simply, watching Sirius' reaction to James' words.

"Shut it, Prongs. And for the record, she's pretty good, yeah." Sirius thought, while the word _understatement_ flashed repeatedly in his mind. _Pretty good_. She was _fantastic_.

Sirius blushed a little. Three snogs in one week! The poor girl needs a rest!

Oh, but Sirius didn't really want to give it a rest. He was getting to know Harmony in a whole different way.

"How's she doing, anyway? Why was she in here last night?" Remus asked, folding a shirt and placing it back into his trunk.

"She couldn't sleep. She just needed someone then." Sirius said, not wishing to reveal anything else about the night before. It was something that should stay between just him and Harmony.

"I see. Are you guys like, together?" James asked, sounding very much like a teenage girl.

Peter snorted a little and pointed this out. He then had to dodge a hit from James.

"No, er, not-" Sirius started awkwardly.

"-yet. Not yet." James finished for Sirius, nodding.

"You legitimately are interested in her though, right? This isn't just another girl you snog and never talk to again?" Remus asked worriedly, sitting down in his bed and looking at Sirius.

"No." Sirius said shaking his head instantly. "Well, I mean that as she's _not_ just another girl to me." Sirius clarified, suddenly realizing that his words were ringing with truth. "Harmony's...she's more than that. I'm not sure what, but she's something else."

* * *

The remainder of the Christmas break passed by rather uneventfully. There was no more Tianna, for she stayed well out of the other Gryffindors' way. Sirius and Harmony hadn't kissed anymore since that day, and everything seemed to be getting back to normal. The big Quidditch match for Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw was to be held on the first Saturday back, so James' mind was pretty much only occupied by victory against Korey List's Hogwarts house. Even Lily agreed it would be nice to win. Only one problem-Korey didn't show up after the Christmas break again (along with the Slytherins who attacked Harmony in the corridor two weeks before), so Korey's reaction to losing wouldn't be able to be enjoyed.

As Harmony and Sirius walked out of Potions on the Thursday after the school returned, the rest of their class followed behind.

When Harmony and Sirius made it out of the dark and cold dungeons, the upper corridors were already swelling rapidly with students.

"Hey Sirius, want to do our essay together?" Harmony asked Sirius as they wove their way through their fellow peers scurrying off in all directions for various classes and spares.

"Sure. Group work. I like that shit." Sirius replied, nodding approvingly.

Harmony snorted. "We still have to plan our little firework show, remember."

"How could I forget?" Sirius grinned. "So, what time do you wanna meet for our study date?"

"How about seven in the library?" Harmony suggested, forcing her brain not dwell on the word _date_.

"Awhe, Harms, does it have to be in there?" Sirius whined.

"Yes, Sirius. The library has the books and the silence. I love the library." Harmony said.

"Fine. But don't expect me to be well behaved, got it?"

Harmony burst out laughing. "When do I ever? Sirius, I didn't even know 'well behaved' was in your vocabulary."

"Hush, you." Sirius smiled playfully, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he smiled.

And so the teens continued on their way to Transfiguration, and then to their dorms, and to the Great Hall for a fantastic dinner in the evening. Finally seven rolled around and Harmony left to go to the library, grabbing her Potions textbook, her quill and some parchment.

When she arrived, there was no sign of Sirius, and the library was packed full of students. The only available table was near the back, right next to a group of fourth-year girls. This group included Tianna.

_No wonder it was empty._

Sirius showed up a little after seven. Harmony watched him scan the library for her, and then smile when he found her with his eyes.

As he approached, she got a good look at him. Sirius was tall, that's for sure, and the hard and endless Quidditch training James forced him to do gave him a drool-worthy body. Dark, mysterious grey eyes, pink lips, defined cheekbones and jaw line, and his slightly straggly curly black hair hanging perfectly around his face...oh he was definitely good looking (understatement of the century).

Girls and boys alike watched as he passed, either with jealousy or lust in their eyes. Little things like this and the fact that Sirius was like a fricken god had Harmony's mind asking the same things; _how on Earth did you manage to snog someone like him? _and_ why did he want to snog you in the first place?_

Such friendly thoughts towards herself.

As Sirius walked over to Harmony, he noticed the group of fourth-years making goo-goo eyes at him, especially Tianna who pulled her shirt down a bit more when she saw him approaching. Pathetic.

So, only to infuriate them even more (well that's what Sirius told himself), he called loudly and confidently across the library, "Harms! Glad you showed up! Looking as beautiful as ever, I see."

He sent a wink in Harmony's direction that would have any normal girl swooning. Harmony caught on, "Oh, how positively _lovely_ to see you, Sirius!"

And there the pair pranced up to each other dramatically, Sirius throwing his stuff down on and empty seat of the table. When they met in the middle, Sirius lifted Harmony up around the waist, spinning her around like they hadn't seen each other in years instead of minutes.

Harmony burst out laughing, barely able to hold on to him. They stayed spinning and laughing, aware of all the whispering and hissing they were receiving from other tables. Especially Tianna's. It was hilarious.

"_Stop that right now! No more funny business or you'll both be out_!" The Hogwarts librarian screeched across the library.

Sirius and Harmony, now completely out of breath from spinning and laughing, just continued to laugh louder and harder. They stopped spinning, though, and Sirius got a chance to glimpse at Harmony. Her face was warm, pink and beautiful as ever, with her cheekbones standing out when she smiled, her green-brown eyes and those straight, white teeth beneath full pink lips. Her hair hung long and in shiny natural curls down her back. She was wearing a zip-up jumper, jeans with holes and tears, and her 'interestingly-decorated trainers' as she described them herself. Everything about her just screamed _Harmony Sea._

The pair at down at the table next to each other. Harmony could smell Sirius' cologne as took the spot directly beside her. "So, I reckon we should get started."

"Unfortunately, I have to agree." Sirius grimaced and pulled out his book.

The two sixth-year Gryffindors worked for about two hours on the 'damn essay' as Sirius kept calling it.

The fourth-year girls left long before in a crowd of forced laughter, strong perfume and eyes flitting to Sirius every couple seconds. The library was mostly empty when the pair decided to call it a day.

"How has your side been?" Sirius asked as they made their way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Good. How's your uh, scratches?" Harmony said this a bit awkwardly, because after she healed the scratches Bellatrix's nails made down Sirius' chest for him, they ended up snogging rather passionately in the corridor. And getting caught. By all of their mates, the matron, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Yeah, a tad embarrassing.

Sirius laughed softly and knowingly. "They're nothing but scars, now."

"Good." Harmony said nodding and blushing.

And with that they walked through the cold and dark school in a comfortably awkward silence. If that made any sense.

When they arrived back in the warm common room, Sirius plopped down on the nearest couch and sighed, "I could go for a nap."

"It's already quarter after nine, Sirius. You might as well go to sleep." Harmony pointed out wisely.

Sirius just shook his head as Harmony dropped her bag and sat down next to him. "Nah. Too early. I think I'll just sleep here. You're not thinking of abandoning me, are you?" Sirius asked in mock-outrage.

"Clearly not now." Harmony sighed, sitting back on the pillows and closing her eyes.

Sirius just moved closer to her on the couch; so close that their hips were touching. "I'm cold, Harms."

"Aren't you Mr Hot Guy?" Harmony asked looking into the fire.

"In the attractive sense, all the time. In the temperature sense, most of the time. But not now."

"What do you propose I do about your situation, Mr Black?" Harmony asked, already guessing the answer and still blushing despite the tackiness of the situation.

"Well, I could do this." Sirius scooted even closer to Harmony, and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"Sirius!" Harmony shrieked. "That _tickles_!" She batted him away.

Sirius just laughed and moved away, just as Harmony rested her head against Sirius' shoulder.

"Well, at least we got the essay done." Harmony said finally.

"We did. And I didn't get kicked out of the library." Sirius replied, leaning his head atop of hers.

"Almost." Harmony countered. "But those girls' faces were priceless, oh my goodness."

"I know!" Sirius said, grinning. "I thought that Tianna bird was going to shit herself. Even after I made it extremely clear that _I'm not interested at all,_ she still seems to continue to try to get a go with me."

"She drives me to the farthest point of insanity, I swear." Harmony sighed.

"I think she would have been better suited in Slytherin." Sirius said back, eyes locked along with Harmony's on the flames in the fireplace.

"The things she said..." Harmony sighed again. "I agree with you."

They fell in a comfortable silence again.

"Sirius, tell me something about your parents. Your family." Harmony whispered.

Sirius stiffened, but then just sighed and relaxed. "What do you want to know?"

"When did you...become rebellious?"

"I don't remember. I've been the reckless, different child since as far as I can recall. I don't have one childhood memory without me doing something against them."

"Why did your views...differ?" Harmony asked cautiously.

"I guess I was the only one with eyes that could actually see, could tell good from bad. I was the only one who knew that blood status, money, power...those were really nothing compared to...I don't know, compared to something much bigger than those things. To get the whole picture, you have to look past what's in the front and middle, you have to absorb the little details, the other elements too, for without them the picture would be incomplete."

Harmony nodded, understanding. "What made you finally leave?"

Flames danced in Sirius' eyes from the roaring fire in the fireplace. "I came home from such a wonderful place, Hogwarts, where I felt at home, where everyone had gotten over me being the Gryffindor Black. Where I felt like I was actually genuinely liked there. I felt _safe_, Harmony, you know? And then I get to this dark, foul-smelling home tinted with a Black past, present and future. Name pun intended. My father...he really, really hates me. Even as much as my mother. So I got home, hair long, happy, full of a new passion, a fresh wave of rebellion, wearing my Gryffindor Quidditch t-shirt...and they just lost it. So did I. They cursed me, half-beat me, yelled foul, terrible things at me, which I gladly returned. And I left, with my trunk, all bloody, to James'. They took me in. They treated me like a son. After I had told them what happened, they didn't question me again. They're my _real_ family. I don't know where I'd be without them."

Harmony had kept silent, still as Sirius just opened up to her. It made Harmony's heart ache, the things he's been through. She was sure that what he told her was just the tip of the iceberg.

She didn't know what to say as Sirius finally looked down at her, waiting for her reaction. So, Harmony leaned up and kissed him full on the mouth. It was short, but it conveyed the message well enough.

Harmony pulled back, but still stayed close to him. When she finally opened her eyes again, she found a pair of silver-grey ones looking back, all the passion and emotion swirling in them like a hurricane.

Sirius gently pulled her up in a standing position, grabbed her waist, pulled her and just hugged her tight, his head burying in her hair. "Thank you."

"For what?" Harmony whispered against Sirius neck.

"For being you." Sirius muttered, pulling her into him even closer.

A long time passed before Harmony finally said, "I should get going to bed."

Sirius slowly let go of her altogether except for her hand and guided her over to the girls' staircase. "Goodnight, Harmful."

"Goodnight, pups." Harmony replied, cracking a grin.

Sirius smiled, leaned down so their jaws were aligned and kissed her lightly, his fingers trailing down her cheek. Harmony shivered slightly.

To say Sirius' fingers made Harmony positively melt was no where close to how she really felt.

_Why did he have to be so perfect?_

Harmony broke away, and made her way up a the stairs, throwing one last glance at Sirius. He studied her, his hair ruffled, his weight one one leg, balancing his tall frame, his arms crossed, and Sirius' bright eyes watching her up the stairs, a smile dancing on his lips.

As Sirius' eyes followed Harmony's back, he thought for the millionth time, _You're something else, Harmony Sea. I'm not exactly sure what, but you're something else. And I think I'm falling hard for that something else._

**A/N- A day early! Yay! I just had my birthday, too. Today is a good week. That is all.**

**Oh, hold on, one more thing:**

**Thank you so much to all my favouriters, followers and reviewers!**


	12. Complications and Constellations

Harmony Sea rolled ungracefully out of bed, her eyes trying to adjust to the pitch-darkness of her dorm room. "Bloody bladder." She muttered as her hair fell into her eyes and she stumbled over to the bathroom.

After completing her business, Harmony tripped back to the warmth and comfort of her bed, looking forward to collapsing back onto the well-worn mattress and sleeping peacefully for a couple more hours.

Just as she passed the window, however, a strange series of flashing lights against the pitch-blackness of the Hogwarts grounds caught her eyes.

"Wha-" Harmony started.

Then she noticed that there were several dark figures riding on broomsticks hovering over the castle, some just outside the Hogwarts grounds, and every few seconds a burst of light would come from the Forbidden Forest, showing the silhouettes of more figures for a fraction of a second.

_What the heck? What-_

Harmony was beginning to really wake up now, and her eyes were drinking up the scene before her in mild horror.

A low rumble sounded as Harmony stood frozen, transfixed. As a flash of light illuminated the sky for a quick millisecond, Harmony caught sight of a horribly familiar face; Avery's.

Her blood started to boil, hands started to shake, heart started to pound.

"No! Those little _shits_-" Harmony blinked a couple times, trying to make her sleepy brain wake up even more and process that Death Eaters were trying to get into Hogwarts.

"Oh my gosh-_LIVEN! BECCA! _You guys, _get up now_! WAKE UP!" Harmony screeched at the top of her voice.

"What?! What what's-" Liven shot up in her bed, getting tangled in the hangings.

"They're trying to get in Hogwarts! Look out the window! _Liven the Death Eaters are breaking the enchantments_!" Harmony ran around, rousing every one of her mates hurriedly as the panic kicked in.

"I'll go get the boys; wake all of the Gryffindor girls! Now!" Harmony screamed as she ran down the stairs. She could hear the voices of her dorm mates as they hopped out of bed and started to rouse all the other students.

Harmony burst into the marauders' dorm a moment later to find everyone sleeping peacefully. "_GET UP!_" She yelled.

"What-" James leaped out of bed, landing on the floor in a daze. "What the hell?"

"James! The Death Eaters are trying to get in Hogwarts now! Look out your window! I need to get Dumbledore!" Harmony screamed franticly, her heart beating, as Sirius shot out of bed ungracefully and went to the window. Harmony just sort of started walking around on the spot, her feet tripping over clothes and books strewn across the untidy floor. She couldn't handle panic well.

True to Harmony's word, several dark figures were indeed slowly coming closer to the castle, and the blinding flashing of lights caused by breaking protection enchantments were appearing more frequently now.

"It's okay, guys. Calm it. I'll go with Harmony to get Dumbledore and you wake the rest of Gryffindor. _Be quick_." Sirius said rather calmly.

Remus was waking Peter while James was already out of the room, his voice heard through the walls as he started yelling at the other Gryffindor boys to get up.

Harmony grabbed Sirius' warm hand and pulled him down the stairs, then let go of it when they reached the bottom. The tired teens tore through the castle as their legs screamed in protest at the physical activity being forced upon them at such a ridiculous hour. Their footsteps echoed all around the walls as they sprinted, making loads of noise. Hopefully they would wake up the other houses, too.

Finally, they got to Dumbledore's office entrance.

"We don't know the damn password!" Harmony smacked herself in the head and Sirius looked at the wall then the gargoyle guards challengingly, as if he was weighing how much force it would take to break through them.

Turns out they didn't need to break any walls because just at that moment, the wall slid aside to reveal Albus Dumbledore himself striding down the stairs hurriedly, his long, deep purple set of robes flying behind him like a blanket a child would tie around their necks to play superhero.

"Professor-" Harmony started, relieved.

"Yes, I've seen them outside myself." Dumbledore informed them. "The Ministry has been contacted, along with the heads of houses. I suggest you go to the Great Hall now. Do not create light or sound, as this is a lockdown of sorts. Quickly and quietly, now."

Dumbledore was gone in a swish.

"Common room." Sirius said immediately.

And so Harmony and Sirius sprinted back to the common room, completely disregarding Dumledore's orders as to where they were supposed to go.

As the pair ran across the entrance hall, teachers were ushering sleepy-eyed students into the pitch-blackness of the Great Hall. Harmony noticed that most of the other houses were up too, and even the matron was there in her old fashioned and modest nightgown.

Sirius and Harmony bumped into their mates on the staircase. "Dumbledore said to go to the Great Hall! Where's my brother? Where's Ryan?" Harmony called.

"Just saw him and his mate pass us on their way down. The Heads told us where to go. Those Death Eaters can't pull anything past Dumbledore." Becca replied.

"It's not like they really tried to be secretive about breaking into Hogwarts after all." James said. "Gee, I wonder what all those flashing lights and cloaked men are doing on brooms outside in the middle of the night? I think I'll make some tea and watch them." James added sarcastically. Peter and Lily giggled. James looked pleased at Lily's reaction to his wit.

So Sirius and Harmony changed direction and joined their friends as they hurried to the Great Hall with the rest of the student body.

Harmony stumbled into the large room, where whispers filled the chilly air despite the teachers all hissing for them to be quiet.

Everyone jumped when a boom suddenly sounded from outside. It shook the castle walls violently.

That was a pretty efficient way to end all the conversations.

The students sat frozen, silent and shivering slightly, not all from the coldness of the dark, un-candlelit hall.

Harmony did her best to scan through the darkness to make sure her brother and his friends were there. All of them were present, Harmony noticed with great relief.

As her mind strayed to whether the Death Eaters had payed a visit to Harmony's own home prior to Hogwarts, she forcefully made her over active brain to shut up and concentrate on the enchanted ceiling, where stars were shining brightly above. Almost tauntingly, Harmony thought for some reason.

Another boom sounded outside. It rattled the castle so much that the big front entrance doors to Hogwarts blew open and an icy gust of wind blew in, immediately causing Harmony to shiver violently in her thin pyjama pants and loose jumper. Sirius was shirtless, so it must have been even colder for him.

_SHIRTLESS_.

Harmony tried her hardest not to glance at his bare upper half, because there were more important things at hand than a gorgeous shirtless boy and also because it would be completely humiliating if Sirius caught her at it, which he most likely would do knowing Harmony's luck.

Harmony groped around, trying to find another being in the heavy darkness. She felt a familiar warm, rough hand grip hers. It was Sirius'.

Then several thoughts dawned on Harmony about the current situation.

Death Eaters were just outside the supposedly-safe castle walls.

The hall was dark.

Harmony couldn't see anything.

There very well could've been something lurking in the hall, ready to strike in the dark.

Ready to appear out of thin air.

Ready to grab Harmony and pull her away.

Ready to drag her deep into the terrifying depths of the unknown.

And that was how her stupid brain reminded Harmony of one of her biggest fears.

Harmony started to shake and shiver. "S-Sirius, I don't like this, I don't like this at all, Sirius." Harmony hissed in a warning tone.

"Harms, nothing is in here, we're fine. Just wait it out. It's okay." Sirius soothed, sliding even closer to Harmony down the cold, stone wall they were leaning on, trying to comfort her as her fear of the darkness and unknown kicked in.

Despite Sirius' comforting words, Harmony's anxiety kept growing with every silent passing second in the darkness.

Harmony couldn't keep still, and she kept checking down the wall, her head flicking back and forth all over the place frantically. Finally, Sirius pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos!"

The tip of his wand burst with light, causing everyone to look over at the sudden break in the darkness, but was put out again when McGonagall called across the hall in a yell-whisper, "Please no light, ladies and gentlemen! We don't need anyone making a beeline for the Great Hall because it's lit up like a Christmas tree! Let's be sensible, now."

"But-" Sirius tried, gesturing to Harmony.

"No exceptions. Now _hush_! Keep quiet!" McGonagall called again, her voice echoing.

A third, echoing bang sounded from outside, rattling the windowpanes to the point that Harmony was afraid they all should expect a rain of glass shards to descend on them any second.

"Sirius-" Harmony squeaked in fear.

"It's okay, Harmony. I'm here, we're all here." Sirius whispered in Harmony's ear.

"Oh my gosh, nevermind the dark, what if the Death Eaters try to attack my family if they can't get in Hogwarts? What if they already have and the Ministry has yet to receive word? Oh my goodness-" Harmony started again, a new wave of fear crashing down on her.

Clearly she wasn't really good at coping with her brain in these types of situations.

"You really think my parents would allow that? Didn't they make it clear in the letter they sent back to you that they were making you and your family's safety most important? Harmony, calm down." James interjected from down the wall.

He was referring to the letter Harmony had received in reply to her own letter sent about two weeks previously, just after the attack on New Year's. Her letter was just a bunch of apologizing for the damage she caused to the Potters' house, enclosing money for repairs, and thanking Grace and Charles Potter for their generous hospitality (of half a night).

Anyway, James' parents sent one back, calling Harmony silly for apologizing, so sweet for sending a letter, assuring her that her and her family couldn't be more safe, and also sending back the pouch of money, completely untouched. The pouch had a letter attached to it in a messy scrawl similar to James', which meant that it was Charles', saying that the "pictures in the hallway that were blown to smithereens were rather ugly" and he was "very glad to get those excuses for art destroyed" because he "never could stand them in the least". Harmony had a good laugh over that little note. Looks like she discovered where James' humour came from.

Harmony was torn from her thoughts by several yells and the unmistakeable cracking of hexes and curses being shot and blocked by duelling sounding from just outside the castle walls. The Ministry arrived, apparently.

Harmony could only stand in horror with the rest of the hall as the shouts of pain and wooshing of spells continued to get closer.

"This is madness. I'm just going to have to give them what they bloody want." Harmony said shakily, but strongly. She stepped away from the wall, trembling, her eyes already set on the open double doors and the flashes of light just outside them.

"Are you bloody insane? Harmony!" Sirius yelped, launching at her and pulling her back to where she was before.

"Sirius! Look at all these lives I'm putting in danger by just being here! I need to give them what they want, which happens to be me for some strange reason, so they'll leave you guys alone!" Harmony reasoned, as people started to listen in on the argument curiously.

"Harmony, you know as well as I do that giving yourself up won't make them leave peacefully. Especially since it sounds like the Ministry has gotten involved." Sirius yell-whispered, sounding quite a lot like McGonagall earlier.

"It's worth a shot!" Harmony tried, but before anyone could say anything else, there was a loud, deep scream and a body arched through the air, bursting through the open entrance way, and landed with a dull thump on the Hufflepuff table. Some of the younger students screamed in horror at the scarlet blood dripping down the man's unfamiliar face.

Harmony tore over to the Hufflepuff table, along with the entire population of Hogwarts, to get a better look.

He was clothed in dark, black robes, a skeletal-looking mask on the ground beside him from where it skittered as he fell.

A Death Eater.

"Those bloody assholes! How did they break the enchantments? How the bloody hell did they get in here?" Harmony asked to no one in particular, her hands starting to shake with unconfined rage.

An older student Harmony didn't know the name of pushed through the crowd and used his wand to tie the Death Eater up with ropes and levitate him over to the staff table, where all the teachers were scrambling after one another to get to the Hufflepuff table.

Outside the hall, the voices and sounds of duelling were getting steadily closer.

Inside the hall, students were screaming and the teachers were forcing them back against the farthest wall from the double doors.

Just then, the fighting was inside the entrance hall. The students stood frozen in terror at the scene as the Headmaster Dumbledore appeared. And he looked mad.

Scratch that. He looked positively _furious_.

"Albus-?" McGonagall called out weakly, although he was to far away to have heard her.

"_While I remain Headmaster at this school_," his loud, strong voice said, bouncing off the walls, "_no Death Eater will freely set foot on its grounds_." And with a few complicated wand movements, a low rumble started to rise, making students cover their ears within seconds as the noise got steadily louder.

Suddenly, a blinding, powerful wave of ice blue magic swept over the scene.

And it was like time froze.

The duels stopped as Death Eaters, ministry officials, students and teachers gazed alike, hypnotized by the sheer beauty of the scary, glowing wave of magic rising up in a beautiful arch forming from all around Dumbledore's tall frame.

It only lasted as a perfect imitation of an ocean wave for a second, before it came crashing down upon them, strangely only knocking the Death Eaters down, a couple of older Slytherins including Severus Snape, and one seventh-year Ravenclaw. The rest of the students were frozen in place, like they were chipped out of stone, except for their eyes flitting all over the scene in front of them.

A couple long moments passed as everybody tried to recover, for even the ones that hadn't been hit with the spell were dazed.

Everyone stared at Dumbledore in fear, astonishment, and admiration, so they failed to notice the Death Eaters finally stumbling to their feet again, making a run for it out the doors of the castle with their imaginary tails between their legs. They were running kind of oddly, Harmony noticed. Every few meters they would fall, only to get back up, look around dazed and confused, and start running again.

"Look! They're getting away!" Someone yelled, as the teachers and aurors whipped around and stared dumbly, still wonderstruck from Dumbledore's magic, at the slowly retreating backs of the Death Eaters as they stumble-sprinted away across the dark lawn.

Everyone jumped into action again, aurors and teachers charging after the Death Eaters, shooting every kind of hex and curse they could at their black-cloak clad backs.

"Harmful?" Sirius asked tentatively, eyes studying her as she clenched her fists, trying to keep the fury off her features unsuccessfully. "Are you okay?"

All their mates turned to Harmony, concern on their faces.

Harmony face, on the other hand, was slowly turning dark red from anger. She bit her lip so hard that she could taste the metallic blood oozing out of it.

"Harmony, calm it. You're fine. We're all fine." Lily soothed, reaching out to rub Harmony's shoulder.

Before any of them could do anything, Harmony had torn herself from Lily's grip and started to run towards the open doors of the castle, where new duels were starting up again.

"Harmony!" Sirius yelled, and he lead the way as the sixteen year olds shoved their way through the crowd, eyes on Harmony's long hair whipping out behind her as she ran.

Harmony burst through the double doors, pulling her wand out of the waistband of her pyjama pants with such speed and practice that one might have guessed she had rehearsed the move.

"Harmony!" Sirius yelled as he charged through the doors, the rest of their mates hot on his heels.

"_I'm going to kill them! The whole bloody lot_!" Harmony ran so fast that the stars were just streaks of light in the sky, the trees a blur of dark brown and white snow.

"Harmony-no!" Becca called in a panicked tone as Harmony got closer and closer to a lone Death Eater running just up ahead of her. She started shooting hexes. And the Death Eater, Avery, started shooting them back. Not very well, his aim was severely affected by the aftermath of Dumbledore's magic, but he was shooting them nonetheless.

"Oh! Look who has come out to play. Isn't this cute?" He taunted, and he shot a curse at Harmony. She blocked it quite easily, which surprised herself more than the caster.

"Why do you want me so badly? What does Voldemort need from me?" She demanded, eyes narrowing into slits.

"That's classified." Avery said automatically, smiling a horrible, hideously knowing smile. Then he added as an afterthought, "But if you were to come with me then you'd obviously find out-"

Harmony shot another nasty hex at Avery. He barely dodged it, and it made him stumble as Harmony started sending spell after spell relentlessly at him, forcing him to retreat slowly towards the dark, shadowed edges of the Forbidden Forest.

It was a fierce, one-sided duel.

Harmony was furious. It felt good to be in control of something for once, but it wasn't enough for her. She needed to taunt. She needed to make him angry. She needed him to start fighting back, so she could feel the adrenalin pump through her veins harder and harder. It was addicting.

"You're getting your ass whopped, if I do say so myself." Harmony called casually, slashing the air with her wand like a sword as yet another hex was thrown at a stumbling, sweating Avery. As Harmony got closer to him, she noticed that his pupils were large and were darting around uncontrollably, like he had too much sugar in his tea or something. "Your ass whopped by a girl. By a muggleborn girl."

Fury clouded Avery's features and that split second of distraction is all Harmony needed. Shooting a stunning spell at Avery, he flew back a couple of feet and hit a tree trunk at the edge of the dark Forbidden Forest.

Harmony seized her chance and sprinted over to where he lay, half conscious, in the grass. "You disgust me. You're a horrible murderer and you're just asking for a one way ticket to hell. I hope you rot there, like Voldemort and the rest of his horrific followers. You will all lose in the end, Avery, because as you should know, good _always_ beats evil." Harmony hissed dangerously, her hair falling into her darkened face.

Footsteps of her mates sounded behind her but she didn't turn.

Just then, Avery shot up shakily, and threw a punch in Harmony's direction. He was still completely out of it, and therefore missed all of Harmony apart from the very edge of her left shoulder.

Even half-conscious, Harmony noticed, his punches were painful. That was so going to bruise badly.

Before Harmony could retaliate or Avery could try again, arms were around Harmony and pulling her back away from Avery.

"Let me _go_! Let-" she started screaming. Turning around, she saw it was James. "Get _off_ me!" Harmony desperately tried to get back to Avery who had taken the opportunity of the attention elsewhere, was running to a safe apparation spot outside the grounds. "_He's getting away_! He's getting bloody away!" Harmony was turning hysterical with rage.

She wasn't the only one.

Remus and Peter were barely keeping Sirius from bolting after Avery, too. "_He fucking hit her! He hit her! Let me go! He hit a fucking girl! He hit Harmony, at that_!" Sirius was yelling, his frame shaking from fury.

Aurors had already taken off after Avery, the last Death Eater still at Hogwarts as the others had gotten away with barely the cloaks on their backs. Dumbledore was swiftly approaching, the battered teachers following behind. He ordered sternly, "Get back into the castle. All of you, to your dorms. Miss Sea and Mister Black-my office please."

Harmony looked back to where Avery last was, and rage filled her as the aurors walked slowly back to the group, deflated and shaking their heads.

Avery got away.

They all got away.

Sparks were flying from Harmony's wand, lighting the blades of dead, frozen grass on fire for a few seconds as they landed. Harmony wrenched herself from James' grip, and followed the Headmaster inside.

The entrance hall was stuffed with students, eyes wide as they watched the group approach the castle.

Perfect. Just perfect. Everyone got to witness Harmony's little excursion.

Take a wild guess at what the new gossip will be. A hint: _Harmony Sea is a mentally disabled girl who has anger problems and just duelled the shit out of a Death Eater_.

They won't even know if they should admire or fear her.

Knowing the cowards that were at this school, they would probably fear her.

"There is nothing to see. Back off to your dormitories. Morning classes cancelled tomorrow. Goodnight." Dumbledore dismissed the whispering crowd loudly.

They all trickled away slowly, throwing glances at Sirius and Harmony as they left back to their respectable dormitories.

Harmony and Sirius followed Dumbledore through the castle, their mates, the teachers, and the ministry aurors were left in the entrance hall.

After a quick mutter of "Gummy broomsticks!" The gargoyles sprung aside and Dumbledore lead the way up the spinning staircase.

Sirius and Harmony sat down next to each other in the two chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk.

Dumbledore surveyed them for a moment, his electric blue eyes piercing them both. "I have answers." He finally said. "But before I share them, I wish to inform you of the pure stupidity you have demonstrated tonight, Miss Sea."

Harmony cast her eyes downward at her shoes, feeling guilty already.

Guilty at what, she had no idea.

"No matter how angry you felt, Miss Sea, it was incredibly dangerous and reckless of you to leave the castle walls, and to run after a Death Eater, no less." Dumbledore started.

"I had it under control! He was down-"

"But Miss Sea, you couldn't have known which Death Eater it was. As you got lucky, it was Avery, a rather dim individual with morals that need improvement. Also, he was still enchanted from my magic, slowing him down and enhancing distraction in the brain. But if it were Voldemort-"

"He wouldn't come out to get me specially! That's bullsh-"

"_How do you know_?" Dumbledore challenged her. "You don't, Harmony. But I do. And in the matter at hand, Voldemort will be the one who shows up next time. This matter is not small."

"What is it?" Harmony said in a small and desperately curious voice, her eyes looking right back into Dumbledore's blue ones. "Why does he want me?"

Dumbledore sighed. "There has been a prophecy. A Seer was tortured and killed because of it. It states that there will be a muggleborn of sixteen this year that in the near future will be the reason for the many negative fates of massive amounts of Voldemort's army."

"That could be anyone! What about Lily? Not that I want it to be her, obviously, but why couldn't it? That description fits her too! Those fit tons of the other sixth-years!" Harmony burst.

"Ah, but it couldn't, because the prophecy described the traits of this individual. Traits that fit almost perfectly for yourself. It said 'a muggleborn of sixteen the coming year, an unexpected bond developing with her opposite, the opposite previously escaping from a black past life with this own family..." Dumbledore quoted.

"Sirius." Harmony said automatically, sending him a half-glance. An understanding smile graced her lips lightly without joy as she caught him studying her with an intense gaze, his eyebrows furrowed, eyes dark, hair falling into his face.

"Precisely. My fears were confirmed when myself along with a few others interrupted a rather passionate moment a couple days before in the hallway, as you surely remember. I knew that it had to be you simply because of the 'unexpected bond with your opposite'. It was the final nail in the coffin, as muggles say." Dumbledore's eyes took in a light hint of humour, but his face remained serious.

"Uh-" Harmony blushed for The Hallway Incident and cleared her throat awkwardly, still aware of Sirius' gaze on her.

It was quiet. It was awkwardly quiet. Both Dumbledore and Sirius were staring at Harmony.

"What am I, a muggle television set? Please stop." Harmony muttered.

"My apologies, Miss Sea. I am merely curious, for I didn't hear the entire contents of the prophecy before..." Dumbledore trailed off thoughtfully, eyes sliding off Harmony's face to watch the sky's few clouds out the window.

Harmony was glad that he didn't finish. She really didn't want to know how he obtained all this information.

"I suggest you get going back to your dormitory, get some sleep. Please go _straight_ to your dormitory." Dumbledore emphasized finally, tearing his eyes away from the window and to the two shocked teenagers in front of him.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for telling me what you know. It makes things a little less foggy." Harmony said graciously, then added on, "And my family? Someone has been to watch-"

"Aurors are stationed there as we speak." Dumbledore nodded.

"Thank you, sir." Harmony smiled tiredly as Sirius stood up, holding the door open for her like a gentleman. "Thanks." She muttered to Sirius and together they left Dumbledore and his odd office behind.

They walked silently through the now-calm castle. A breeze lifted Harmony's messy hair off her face, and she could feel the ends of her hair as it tickled her lower back lightly.

"Didn't see that coming. I feel important. A prophecy was made about me. And you." Harmony said after the light tapping of their echoing footsteps got too much for her.

"You're gonna kill massive amount of old Voldy's Death Eaters." Sirius said proudly, and when Harmony turned towards him she saw that he had a full blown grin on his face.

"Probably blow them up or something, most likely." Harmony sighed, also grinning. "Or light them on fire. Like sneak into their secret-Death-Eater-lair and accidentally start a fire on the most flammable part of the building I stumble across. And then they can all feel like they're burning alive, like I did when I got crucioed. Except they'd actually be burning alive." Harmony finished cheerfully.

Sirius laughed, the sound projected around them, bouncing off the cold walls. "That's the Harmony Sea I'm fall-" he stopped himself, looking a little shocked and pink in the cheeks.

"You're what?" Harmony halted him with a hand on his chest. Her own chest was practically quivering from her racing heart.

_Was he going to say what she thought?_

Sirius took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. Opened them. Looked out the window. Bit his lip in a way that made Harmony want to kiss him so badly. Looked in Harmony's eyes. Looked down to Harmony's shoulder where she had been hit by Avery.

Suddenly, with warm hands he gently slid the side of her zip-up jumper down her shoulder, exposing the skin underneath and the new bruise forming. Harmony shivered as his fingers traced her collarbone to the ball of her shoulder, finally resting on the sore spot, rubbing his rough thumb over it. Sirius looked back in her eyes.

"Falling for. The Harmony Sea that I'm falling for." He declared bravely, finally, and then he kissed her.

Harmony's insides warmed up instantly. She wrapped herself around him automatically, pressing her body in to fit his, arms locked around each other.

The only word to describe it: perfect. It was starting to get familiar, kissing Sirius, and Harmony loved the fact that she could say she was getting to know Sirius' lips, the way they moved, the way they danced along hers. The way Harmony could practically hear the music playing in tune to their synchronized mouths.

Harmony pulled away from him, chuckling lightly, eyes sliding down his features, from his dark, beautiful eyes to his pink parted lips, showing the edges of his straight teeth beyond, and finally down to his bare chest pressed against hers.

"Good thing I'm falling for you, too, Sirius Black." Harmony breathed out, running her fingers down Sirius' jaw, her other hand resting on his shoulder.

"What does that make us now?" Sirius whispered, smiling widely as his hands readjusted themselves around Harmony's waist to pull her into him more.

"The beginnings of a constellation, I believe." Harmony replied simply, leaving a lingering kiss on Sirius' lips. As she pulled away, she tugged on Sirius' hand and he just smiled happily at her.

Together they raced back to the common room, tripping and laughing all over the place, high on nothing but each other.

**A/N- A couple days late, I'm sorry! No excuses though. Just laziness, as it always seems to boil down to these days with this generation. In my defence, I had about half of it done and then I stopped because I got busy for whatever reason. Then I just chose to pick it up like four days later.**

**Have a good weekend, lovelies! Thanks to all my favouriters, reviewers and followers!**

**PS- does anyone actually pay attention to the chapter titles?**


	13. Supernovas and Suspected Attacks

"Well I think that this is a load of shit!" Harmony barked at Lily as the latter attempted to help Harmony with the uses of dragon blood essay they were to complete for after the weekend was done. "Why do I need to do this now? Why are you putting me through this torture?"

Remus snorted from where he sat next to Sirius on one of the many couches in the warm Gryffindor common room as they too were trying to lessen the workload.

"Tell me, Harmony, when you were planning to complete this then?" Lily asked.

"I don't know, whenever I find the time."

"Like eleven on Sunday night?"

"Humph. Well I'd get it done eventually." Harmony crossed her arms and looked into the fire, wishing she could throw her textbook into it and watch it burn with a maniac smile on her face.

As January had slipped into February, no more attacks had been made in an attempt to kill Harmony. Yet. There had been an awful, chilling silence that fell over the world, as Voldemort decided to change tactics; kidnap people silently from their beds in the dead of night and have their bodies quickly and easily disposed of the next morning. He was doing his business, or rather the Death Eaters were, while trying not to cause attention or any more uproars. This made things much easier on the Ministry, but it arose questions within Harmony.

Why the sudden silent, undramatic action that was only appearing the odd entirely-random time, seemingly from the shadows? Harmony could feel the answer though. This was a time period of recruiting people to join his side, either voluntarily or forcefully, and he wanted to keep off the radars until his army was massive enough. To do what, Harmony didn't know. Take over the Ministry? Take over the world?

In Hogwarts, drama was beginning to circulate again. After all the fights and break-ups and make-ups had all been discussed so many times that the witnesses started to become convinced that they found Nancy Lang and Harvey Link, two seventh-year Ravenclaws, in a compromising position before they broke up a couple weeks before, instead of where they fought with all their clothes _on_ in their common room.

Harmony even walked by a group of perfume-smelling gum-chomping hair-straightening fifth-years the other day and overheard them whispering not too quietly about herself and a certain Sirius Black. "They're awfully close, aren't they?" One girl said.

"Oh yes- and that Tianna girl, the fourth year? Yeah she was telling her friends that Sirius had asked her to Hogsmeade at the beginning of the year but she declined saying that she had too much work she needed to do so she was staying back from Hogsmeade. Then she said he'd only started to befriend Harmony Sea in hopes of making her jealous." Another girl told her the group, wide-eyed.

"No, it can't be true though. Tianna went on that Hogsmeade trip. And to be honest I don't think Sirius would have asked her, after she called Harmony a drunk whore at the beginning of the year. I didn't see it but apparently Sirius flipped his lid on Tianna."

"Yeah, true. If you ask me, Tianna seems a bit of fake sometimes. Well, most of the time." A third girl decided, pulling her skin-stretching ponytail even tighter against her skull.

By that time, Harmony had already walked past the group, and could no longer hear any of their conversation.

Sirius and Harmony weren't together. Not officially. It wasn't a definite thing. It was...a half-relationship type thing...sorta.

They had only kissed once more since the night of the Death Eater attack on Hogwarts and even then it was just a quick almost nonchalant peck goodnight kiss after Sirius and Harmony and gotten in late from sneaking into Hogsmeade one night.

It didn't mean that they were growing apart, either. Oh, no. Sirius and Harmony were going on strong, and Harmony found that she was spending more time with Sirius than anyone else. Even herself.

And she loved it.

Now, sitting in the Gryffindor common room before a relaxing, well-deserved and desired weekend, Harmony looked around at all her friends wondering how the heck they were all so concentrated and devoted to the completion of their homework.

Harmony stood up and her textbook slid off her lap with a bang, making her mates jump and their quills to blot large, unwanted wet ink stains all over their parchment. "Disgrace. Friday night, and doing homework. What is wrong with this world?" She asked no one in particular dramatically. "Peace, lovelies, I'm going to get a coffee."

Without any further dialog, Harmony left the common room swiftly, well aware of all the eye rolls she was receiving from the group of sixth-year Gryffindors lounging in various postions studying various subjects by the cackling fire.

In the empty, dark corridors, Harmony's eyes drifted out the window everytime she passed one, hoping for a glimpse of the stars above. The majority of the glittering stars were forced behind clouds, so only the odd twinkle was seen before they disappeared again.

Needing something to fill the silence of Hogwarts, Harmony cracked her knuckles but stopped mid-way because the pops and snaps were too silence-shattering, and the portraits kept grumbling about the hour (it was only nine-thirty, but the portraits were mainly old ladies skittering along with sticks up their arses forcing their love for rules, curfews and schedules on everyone else).

As Harmony went to turn a corner, she stopped herself just in time for low voices were muttering to each other.

Talk about déjà-vu, eh?

Harmony flattened herself against the wall painfully.

_Hell_ no she wasn't making that mistake twice. The last time she heard low voices hissing to each other like that at night in the corridor (while Harmony was on her way to the kitchens, too), she got tortured by a bunch of burly Slytherins.

Naturally, Harmony didn't run as fast as she could in the other direction, but she stayed to listen in on this suspicious conversation taking place. She was a Gryffindor, after all.

"Isn't there any-" The more, quiet and soft of the voices asked.

"-other way to get to her? No. It has to be them. She's as good as showed us that they're the only ones she really cares about. That and-" A low, rough voice hissed.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it a million times over. The gossip never changes around here, honestly."

"Severus Snape, are you admitting to being a gossip?" The darker speaker asked, his voice laced with laughter.

"Certainly not. One does overhear quite a bit while sitting in front of immature, brainless mudbloods in every class." Snape said defensively. Harmony could almost picture the red blush creeping onto his sallow cheeks.

"Back to business, Severus. The Dark Lord has not given any specific dates, but I assure you it will be in the very near future. It is your responsibility to look up the correct way to break those protective enchantments on the list given to you, because without them how might we get through? The Dark Lord was far from happy last time when Avery had such a clear shot o her but got his ass kicked, so now that he has given this job to us, we cannot fail."

_Ten galleons to guess who 'her' was?_

"I agree. Although I highly doubt that attacking Sea's-" Snape started irritably.

_Look who's ten galleons richer._

Harmony had to contain her bitter laughter.

"_Severus, to doubt the Dark Lord's plan is to doubt the Dark Lord himself_!" The voice hissed, full of fear, as if old Voldy was listening in on their conversation.

"I am doing no such thing. I am simply expressing my concerns about the major holes and faults in this plan. What if the Sea doesn't respond the way the Dark Lord believes she will?" Snape said calmly.

"We mustn't question or doubt. The Dark Lord said that it will all fall into place as soon as we carry out our part of the task."

There was a long silence.

"Well, if that is all, I must be getting back to the common room. Goodnight." Snape said finally, and Harmony heard him distinctly turn on his heel, his lone footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Harmony stood frozen, hardly breathing for fear of Snape's fellow Death Eater finding her. There was a shuffle and Harmony launched herself as quietly as she could behind a suit of armour.

The figure passed before Harmony got to have a good look at who he was, but all she caught sight of was a glint from moonlight hitting a silver ring bearing a strange, interconnected snake-like crest upon a thick finger.

Then the panic set in.

They were going to attack someone close to Harmony? It could only be her mates or her family. In all honesty, she didn't know which was worse.

Coffee could wait. She needed to pay the Headmaster a visit. Immediately.

Harmony changed course and tore through the school, finally reaching Dumbledore's office.

Harmony stopped and face-palmed herself while she panted slightly from running so fast. "Smooth, Harmony. Let's charge off to the Headmaster's office without knowing the password to get in. Lovely." Harmony muttered to herself, glaring at the stupid wall separating herself from the winding staircase.

She turned to the gargoyle and eyed it down. "Hey, I really need to get into the office because I think some Death Eaters are going to attack my family or friends." Straight to the point. That's how to do it.

"Password?" He replied lazily.

"Yeah, that's the problem. I don't know it and I have to speak to Dumbledore like now. It's really urgent."

"Well I need the password before I admit you up."

"Are your ears full of stone too? Because I'm pretty sure I just told you that I don't know it."

"Then I guess you'll have to stay down, Miss."

"Useless rock," Harmony told the cackling gargoyle angrily. "I'll just write a letter, I suppose."

"What a great plan!" The gargoyle cried after Harmony as she turned and left on her heel proudly.

"I happen to be gifted, thank you. Which means I can *plan the destruction of your statue quite easily." Harmony snapped back.

Dumb piece of mountain, that gargoyle is.

Harmony raced back through the school to the Gryffindor tower. She could at least tell her friends. Or warn them. Warn them they could potentially die in the near future because of her.

Harmony was sure she looked like a right bloody mess; hair flying everywhere, cheeks flushed, panting slightly, undone laces of her trainers. But nonetheless, Harmony told the Fat Lady the password as calmly as she could muster the word, and the portrait swung forward.

"Guys!" She screeched to the group of sixth-years that still hadn't moved from when she left them before.

"Yeah?" Lily answered on behalf of the question-filled-eyed group.

"I think this calls for a more private environment," Harmony hinted, eyes traveling very unsubtle-like to the couple students scattered around the room eavesdropping in on the conversation, as always.

"Up we go!" James hopped up and led the way to the boys' dormitory stairs.

When everyone had settled in and the door was quickly shut, Harmony plopped down next to Sirius on his bed and sighed. "Well, I happened to run into Snape and some other unknown Death Eater while on my way to the kitchens."

"What-?!" Sirius yelled.

"Hush. They didn't see me. I saw them." Harmony shushed Sirius. "I listened to their conversation, which was about me, naturally."

"Harm-" Becca started.

"Guys! Stop interrupting. It's not a lot of information, so please be quiet and let me finish!" Harmony said loudly. "Okay, and anyway, they were talking about the only way to get to me was by killing or seriously injuring, most likely killing, a group of people close to me. They either mean you people or my family."

Everyone was quiet.

"Why do they need to 'get to you' so badly?" Liven whispered.

Harmony half-glanced at Sirius. She hasn't explained the prophecy situation to them yet. Even though she had known for a couple weeks already.

"I...well, Dumbledore told me. He knows." Harmony started.

"You knew and you didn't tell us? Harmony! We're your best mates!" Becca sounded insulted.

"The moment wasn't right!"

"You don't need a bloody right moment to tell your best mates why the darkest wizard of all time wants you dead!" Becca screeched.

"Ladies! Calm it." Sirius interjected, then nodded for Harmony to go on.

"There was...(still is? I don't know) a prophecy made about me. Well not me specifically, but the description matched up pretty perfectly to me and this mystery female. Anyway, it pretty much states that I will be the reason for the deaths of massive amounts of old Voldy's army. Not sure how I will achieve this, but yeah." Harmony confessed, not daring to meet her friend's gaping stares.

"Massive-" Lily looked at Harmony with a mixture of respect and concern. "Oh, Harms..."

"Don't 'oh Harms' me. I'll be fine. I don't even know how I'll do it, if at all. It'll probably be a mistake or something. Accidental explosion. Firework gone wrong." Harmony tried to shrug it off, despite The Prophecy being a big thought-occupier within the last few weeks.

Harmony shifted her gaze to James, who had a stupid grin on his face. "Well, Harmony Sea, you have officially earned a whole new level of respect from me."

"Why thank you, James Potter." Harmony cracked a grin to as James high-fived her.

"Back to this killing stuff..." Peter squeaked. "They didn't say specifically who will die?"

"No. They said that the only way to get to me was to kill someone close to me. Or they said a variation of that. Apparently Snape is responsible for looking up correct ways to break a list of enchantments given to him, which makes me believe it's my family because of all the Ministry magic put over my house. But then they were talking about gossip...and uh, they implied that there was a certain individual..." Harmony trailed off, willing herself not to look at Sirius. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Yeah, so either there will be an attack on you guys or my family in the very near future. I tried to speak with Dumbledore but that stupid rock wouldn't let me in because I didn't know the password."

"Stupid rock?" Sirius laughed.

"The bloody gargoyle." Harmony clarified, crossing her arms and smiling a bit.

"Well, that's cheerful." Remus concluded. "And I have another full moon coming up. Maybe they'll kill us before so I don't have to worry about it."

Harmony had a mini-panic attack. He just said full moon in front of her mates!

Right, right. They know. It's good.

Without them, she wouldn't even have the knowledge about Remus and his furry little problem, as James put it, for it was mainly Liven and Lily who figured out the secret. The girls just didn't know about the whole animagus part yet. Only Harmony and the boys knew that.

"Moony!" James cried, smacking his mate. "You're such a downer!"

"I try." Remus said sarcastically.

"Come, Sirius. We're going to get my caffeine finally." Harmony told him, and he rolled his eyes but followed her lead out the door, giving a half wave to the remaining sixteen-year-olds watching the pair leave the room.

As Sirius turned, they saw him slip his hand in Harmony's and trot down the stairs alongside her.

"Not too hard to figure out who that 'certain individual' is, eh?" James said. Everyone nodded in agreement, eyes still on the place where Sirius and Harmony disappeared from a moment before.

* * *

Harmony dropped her bag with a slam in the middle of the empty corridor. The sound echoed loudly and made Sirius stop in mid-sentence to give a questioning look over at Harmony. "Uh-"

"I _swear_, the person who thought, '_hey, let's make girls of Hogwarts all wear kilts_!' is going to die a slow, painful death." Harmony screeched somewhat hysterically. She reached under her school cardigan and yanked her kilt up past her ribcage. "This bloody thing keeps sliding down! And I will _not_ roll it. I refuse to roll my kilt."

"Er-why?" Sirius asked, bewildered and taken by surprise at this little outburst.

"Because that's what all the whores do. To make them shorter. You should know, Sirius. I'm sure you've taken tons of kilts off." Harmony told him, eyes on the button sewn to her kilt, holding it together and her fingers as they tried to adjust it tighter.

Sirius stopped Harmony's fumbling fingers by placing his own over hers. He lifted her chin to look up at him, their eyes meeting. "I need to clear this up- I have never taken a kilt off anyone, Harmony. Did you really think I was that much of a whore?"

"Well," Harmony started, blushing a little. "I just thought...wait, you're a _virgin_?"

"Well, no. I've only done it once. Fifth year. I was drunk. It was some girl that graduated though. It's my biggest regret, honestly. I don't even remember it much." Sirius said sincerely.

Harmony looked down, pulled her hands away and continued trying to tighter her kilt to keep it up. "I'm sorry, I thought you of all people would have...look let's talk about something else."

"Yeah, okay. I just didn't want you to think of me like that." Sirius said, eyes on Harmony's fingers as they brushed the tan skin of her slightly exposed rib. "How are you tan right now? It's February!"

"What?" Harmony glanced down and blushed because of her exposed skin, and she quickly pulled her cardigan down over her kilt again. "I'm party Italian, Sirius. I'm always slightly tan-looking."

"I always thought that...ah, nevermind." It was Sirius' turn to blush a bit.

Harmony laughed, holding the hem of her school skirt through her shirt as she reached down to retrieve her bag from the floor. "Let's get to dinner, yeah?"

"Right." Sirius slipped his hand in hers, and when she glanced at him automatically, he was badly holding in a smile.

Damn it, this boy was perfect.

And they weren't even dating!

...Yet...

DON'T BE FAN OBSESSIVE FANGIRL, HARMONY SEA.

Harmony shook her head to clear her thoughts as the pair reached the Great Hall.

Opening the doors, Harmony discovered two things. One, that everyone was silent and had stopped eating, and two, all the eyes shifted from a group the Harmony's mates, the headmaster, and two ministry officials to Harmony and Sirius.

The atmosphere was cold, tense, on edge.

Harmony went to the group immediately, Sirius following. "What's happened? What's going on?"

"Harms...they're not _dead_." Becca started helplessly.

Harmony's heart started to beat. Her hands started to shake. "Please tell me it's not-"

"You're family," a bald, tired-looking ministry worker started, cutting her off with his loud, carrying voice. "has had an attack from what seems to be a group of Death Eaters. Luckily, the ministry guard came round long enough to summon backup before the Death Eaters broke all the enchantments. Your brother has been informed now and just left to take a walk, I believe."

Harmony's knees started to shake. "They're okay? Oh please tell me they're not hurt-"

"Only a little. Your sister was hit with a mild jinx and is recovering remarkably fast in St. Mungo's."

"My-Charlotte-oh my gosh-" Harmony couldn't stand any longer. She sat down right on the cold stone floor, well aware of everybody waiting for her reaction. "Professor Dumbledore...I wrote you the letter..."

Dumbledore shifted his gaze to her face. "There was nothing we could do. Be thankful they survived."

"_YOU FUCKING IDIOTIC SNAKES_!" She suddenly screeched, jumping to her feet and scrambling up on the Hufflepuff bench, kicking aside food as she stood up on the table. "MY FAMILY HAS DONE NO WRONG!"

Harmony stumbled, half-blinded by rage, towards the Slytherin table, where Severus Snape sat calmly with a couple of other older Slytherins. "YOU," she slowly made her way to them, tears of fury running down her suddenly-pale cheeks. "I KNOW! I KNOW IT WAS YOU BECAUSE I HEARD YOUR CONVERSATION LAST WEEK! TRYING TO MAKE YOURSELF WORTHY TO THE DARK LORD, ARE YOU? IT'S NOT GOING TO MATTER BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL TO ROT FOR ALL ETERNITY IN THE END! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU _DID_!" She launched herself at Snape first, knocking him of the bench. Arms were grabbing her, pulling her off him. They were not arms she wanted around her.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING _TOUCH_ ME! GET OFF! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED THEM! MY FAMILY!" Harmony was crying now, kicking and punching against the burly Slytherin holding her.

Snape stood up, nose bleeding. "You are going to die one way or another. All of you are. The Dark Lord will rise, and he'll be killing off all you unworthies. All you mudbloods and your families. Why not speed up the process? Starting with the very family the Dark Lord wants dead. But...he said he'll spare your family if you go to him."

"Thats a load of shit, Severus. you even know that. Get rid of all the muggleborns, you say? Muggleborns like Lily Evans, too? The girl you lust over? The girl who had for _years_ ignored the fact that your heart was becoming blacker with every second you were alive? She ignored that because you were best friends! Because she loved you like a friend, Snape! And you went and called her the m-word, just to make yourself look good. Just to finally shut up your little Death Eater friends about being best friends with a muggleborn. Oh, we know your regretted it after, Snape. It was also my common room you threatened to sleep outside of.

"We had to force food down Lily's throat for two weeks, you know._You were her best friend! _She was so devastated that you almost killed her, Snape. You almost killed the girl you love because of this Voldemort guy. Because if a reputation. Would you kill her family, too? She's a muggleborn also! Would you put the final nail in the coffin of her any lingering feelings towards you? Because you almost did that to me tonight. Maybe before this happened, if one day we were in battle, perhaps I wouldn't have killed you. I would've put of duelling you simply because you were best friends with my best friend." Snape was now ghostly pale. The scarlet blood flowing from his nose looking like bright red paint in contrast to his white cheeks.

"IF I DIE, AT LEAST I'LL KNOW IT WAS FOR THE RIGHT CAUSE, NOT BECAUSE SOME SNAKE BASTARD SENT ME OUT, USED ME, TO DO HIS DIRTY WORK AND FIGHT PEOPLE WITH TRIPLE THE SKILLS AS MY OWN! YOU BLOODY MORONS, YOU WILL ALL GO THE SAME WAY! WHAT IS EVEN THE USE OF PRETENDING OTHERWISE?" Harmony yelled as Sirius burst out of the crowd and grabbed her, trying to take her far away from the scene. She fought him off. "Just think of Lily's reaction if you pass now or in the future, Severus. Just think." Harmony whispered. The whole school was gathered around, tears streaming down some of their faces, others looking terrified. Teachers and ministry workers alike were frozen, listening to every word that Harmony spoke with rapt attention.

"Harmony-don't-" Lily started, who had tears in her eyes too.

"Lily Evans. Could you imagine her hearing the news of your death and thinking, '_That Snape bloke, the one I used to be friends with? Oh, he was killed? One less Death Eater now_.' And then she'd get on with taking her children to the park, kissing her husband goodbye and saying she'll be back in an hour, saying that she loves him, not you. Could you imagine Voldemort just nonchalantly ordering some random guy to get your dead body and bury it in the cold ground, no one even caring that you've passed? So I pity you, Snape. I pity all of you. At least when I die, I'll die knowing I was loved. I'll die knowing that there were people out there that genuinely care for me. And that's all I need."

"Miss Sea," Dumbledore said sharply, pushing his way through. "You need to leave, I'll deal with-"

But Sirius and Remus were already pulling Harmony away, and she was letting them.

Out in the hall, Harmony shook them off and started to run.

"Where's she-" James said, as he and the girls had Remus, Sirius and Harmony followed out of the hall.

Sirius had started running after her, listening to her footfalls and curse words as she ran.

Harmony finally burst out onto the Astronomy Tower, the cool blast of wind slapping her face. The stars were startlingly brilliant tonight, Harmony noticed as she finally collapsed on the ground.

Sirius took one look at her as he came through the doorway and continued to pant slightly. Her hair was fanned out around her, her uniform askew, her eyes bright, the stars reflected in them. "The stars are bright, Sirius." She whispered calmly.

"I see."

She looked at him. "No, you don't. You're looking at me. Not the stars."

"Remember when you called me a star? Right before you passed out? After the first attack?" Sirius asked.

Harmony sat up, her eyes still on the stars above, drinking them in. "Yeah, I remember something of the sort."

Sirius sat down beside her, looked up at the stars, too. "Well, ditto."

Harmony looked over to him, a light smile gracing her lips. "I'm a star?"

"Are we not the beginnings of a constellation?" Sirius asked back, eyes dropping to her face again and staying there.

Harmony smiled full out now, and her insides warmed, despite the recent turn of events. Harmony stood up and walked to the side if the tower. She leaned over it, still looking up.

"My life...it's been one dim star. For as long as I can remember. Maybe it grew a little brighter when I came to Hogwarts, but it just dimmed again soon after the excitement wore off. Then this year...I met you, the war started to get more real, more dangerous. It started to really show everyone's true colours. And now, with this stupid prophecy...and Voldemort's after me...he almost killed my family..." Harmony's voice cracked. "This year's been a supernova, Sirius. It's a supernova. It will either be the death of me or...or the birth."

Sirius trailed his fingers down her back from behind, as she had done for him at James' a month and a little before. "I'm here, we're all here, hearts beating, wounds recovering. We're going to have to fight, Harmony. And maybe this year is all you needed, maybe this supernova isn't ending you, but reigniting you, giving you new power, making your star bigger, making it shine brighter, so when the next supernova occurs, it will be the most brilliant the sky has ever seen, the one that will destroy all the others."

Harmony had turned around in Sirius' arms, and now she boldly pressed her lips against his. They moved quickly against each other, full of passion and emotion, conveying messages that no words could describe.

Harmony pulled back, pressed her cheek against his to whisper in his ear. "Are we a constellation, now?"

"I believe we are." Sirius breathed out, his lips tracing the line from her cheekbone, down to her jaw.

She closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around Sirius' neck, and buried herself in him. "But that means when my other, final supernova occurs, you'll die, won't you?"

"As long as it's with you." Sirius kissed Harmony again, and she didn't object whatsoever, for her heart had just melted, a new wave of passion overtaking her mind and heart.

Both Sirius' and Harmony's dorm mates were paralyzed just outside of the astronomy tower, unknown to the kissing pair under the stars. The group were openly gaping at them, and had been ever since Sirius said his little speech to Harmony.

"That was-" Liven started.

"Beautiful-" Lily had tears in her eyes again.

"Guys...let's leave them to it. Harmony needs to sort herself out. Sirius will do that just fine. And even better, by the looks of it." James said a bit dazed, eyes still on Harmony and Sirius.

"Look at how he holds her!" Becca gushed, and the whole group stopped to watch Sirius' arm around Harmony protectively, his other hand holding her cheek, thumb running roughly down the soft skin there.

"Come on." Remus said quietly. They all followed, minds still on the powerful words and kisses exchanged between their best friends.

* * *

Sirius and Harmony returned to the common room soon after. Harmony didn't even try hide the horror, anger and sadness on her face anymore.

Even when the portrait swung forward to reveal the whole population of Gryffindor tower crowded in the common room.

Harmony left Sirius' side, her hand slipping out of his. "Ryan..."

"They're okay." Her brother Ryan, reminded himself more than her. "It's okay."

"It's my fault. I'm so sorry, Ry." Harmony started, and she hugged her brother tight. "You're taller than me, now." She whispered a little sadly.

Ryan ignored this. "It is _not_ your fault. Don't you dare say that it is. You can't control it. The prophecy was made-"

"Shh! How did you know about that?" Harmony pulled out of the embrace.

"You're my older sister. Dumbledore obviously told me."

"When?"

"Just after I heard tonight. He found me and let me know everything that happened."

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Look, I'm going to see Mum and everyone tomorrow. They don't want you going because they don't want you out of the castle. Write a letter and I'll give it to them."

Harmony deflated even more at the news that she wasn't going to be able to see her family after what happened. They're muggles. Well, her parents were, but her sister might as well be one because she wasn't in Hogwarts yet. Either way, they were provably struggling to recover emotionally from this experience. "Yeah, I'll give it to you tomorrow morning."

"Sure thing. Night, Harms. I'm going up to bed, now. Night guys." He said to his mates and left toward the boys' dorms.

Harmony retreated back to Sirius and her mates, who watched the exchange with a mixture of sadness and concern. She got lots of amusement in watching all the Gryffindors hurriedly strike up conversations as she passed, as if they hadn't been eavesdropping in on every word she and her brother shared.

"I'm going to go to bed, maybe dream about how lucky I am to still even have my family." Harmony said.

"We'll come in a minute too." Liven said on behalf of the girls.

"It's amazing how fast they work, really. One week ago I heard the conversation, and now look where we are." Harmony muttered, as she felt the presence of Sirius looming behind her.

"You'll be okay?" He muttered in her ear, so no one else but her heard.

Their mates turned around immediately, but the rest of the Gryffindors didn't.

_This was going to be new gossip material, surely! Look at how close they were standing! Oh my!_

Sarcasm. Total sarcasm.

"I'm just going to sleep, no need to worry." Harmony replied, and she turned around so she was facing Sirius. "Not here..." She muttered as Sirius' eyes went to her lips and a smile spread along his own.

"Why not? Are we not a constellation? Let'a make it known, as everyone will find out soon enough, anyway." Sirius leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to Harmony's lips, which left her laughing and blushing a little.

"Sirius! We have everybody staring at us, now!"

"We didn't before?" Sirius kissed her quickly again.

"Goodnight, Sirius." Harmony smiled lightly and left Sirius in the midst of gaping mouths and stares from all of Gryffindor. Their mates were badly concealing grins.

"Goodnight, Harms!" Sirius called cheerfully, waving a little.

As soon as she left, everyone broke out in whispers. "Sirius Black and Harmony Sea!" An older male student shouted, breaking the silence.

"Are you guys together?" A girl asked boldy, stepping out from the crowd.

"We're a constellation." Sirius informed them, and he stalked off to his dorm without another word, a large smile on his face. _Harmony wasn't the only one experiencing a supernova this year._

**A/N- Well, there you go. Nearly a week late. Hope I made up for it. THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE AWESOME REVIEWS! AND THE FAVOURITES AND FOLLOWS! Gah you people are amazing, okay? Amazing. I love you. Thank you. I need a coffee.**


	14. No Sleep or Nightmares

Essays.

Projects.

Death Eaters.

Books.

Sirius.

Teachers.

Death Eaters.

Voldemort.

Family.

Sirius.

Death Eaters.

Voldemort.

Death Eaters.

Sirius.

These were the only thoughts that occupied Harmony's mind the two weeks after the attack.

Snape and his remaining croonies were dragged in for questioning by the Ministry _that night_. The whole lot of guilty boys got off with a slap on the hand and a 'watch what you say next time, boys'. Apparently there wasn't enough proof that it was them specifically who attacked her family, despite the eye witnesses and testimonies; the auror that was on duty that night, the conversation Harmony overheard, and the two muggle neighbours that had watched in horror from their living room window.

Harmony felt so bad for the muggle couple. First, they witnessed a Death Eater attack from across the street, then some guys in robes showed up and started using sticks to send spells at the cloaked guys, and then they were also dragged in for questioning still without knowing what was going on. To top it all off, they got obliviated and placed safely back in their home the next day.

And now Harmony sat struggling with her dark thoughts at an empty table in the library, desperately attempting to complete an essay long overdue and completely forgotten until an hour ago.

Harmony finally decided to leave the essay. Just give up for the time being. The stress was hitting a peak and she needed out.

Harmony felt the eyes of her peers on her as she left, which she was beginning to get used to unfortunately. While being a constellation with Sirius did have its _major_ perks, it also did have its downs. Like the girl who hissed at her little group of friends as Harmony passed by their table, "Look at her trainers! She's such a little freak!"

Harmony grinned a little, resisting the urge to look down at her school skirt, knee high socks and muggle-comic decorated shoes. They were a brand called Converse, Mum had told her when she got them, and Harmony instantly fell in love. Now, if Harmony wasn't in class, she was sure as hell wearing those 'interestingly-decorated trainers'...uniform or not.

"I try my hardest," Harmony called to the girls, doing a little happy dance that mainly consisted of the wiggling of her hips.

Harmony left the library and kept smiling for about seven seconds before all her troubles came flooding back in her thoughts like a massive, black title wave, knocking all the happiness and energy clean out of her.

She slumped a bit more and continued trekking through the castle.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked as an exhausted Harmony arrived at the portrait hole.

"Uh..._shit_..." Harmony racked her brain while pushing her school bag up on her shoulder more. "Was it...flobberworms! That's it. Flobberworms."

"Correct." The Fat Lady said, disappointed that she didn't get to give her usual lecture on everything and anything to Harmony for forgetting the password.

"Thanks." Harmony said, and the portrait hole swung forward to admit her in.

The fire was cackling and the large room was only about half full of students studying, laughing, playing chess or just talking.

Harmony spied her mates lounging in various positions by the fireplace beside her. Making her way over, Sirius spotted her and jumped up with a cry of, "Harmful!"

"Hey, Sirius." Harmony smiled in his shoulder as he half-hugged her with his unoccupied arm. In his other was a steaming mug of coffee.

"Oh my gosh you're wonderful." Harmony gushed, dropping her bag and snatching the air for her beloved caffeine.

"I know." Sirius replied, cocking an eyebrow smartly.

"I was talking to the coffee."

"What? No you weren't!"

"Knowing Harmony, she probably was, Sirius." Lily said, her eyes not leaving the parchment laid out before her.

"Okay, you're wonderful too, alright?" Harmony said tiredly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sirius handed her the cup of hot liquid and examined the dark circles under her eyes, the way her cheekbones stood out more than usual, her usually tan skin now pale and think-looking.

"For the fifty-millionth time, I'm just peachy!" Harmony sighed, plopping down on the couch where Sirius was sitting before.

Becca cut in, "Well you don't seem fine, Harms, just the last few weeks, after the attack... Everyone's noticed. You look different. You're stressed. You're not sleeping. I'm in your dorm, I wake up too when you do because of the nightm-"

"Becca! It's really nothing, okay? It's nothing. I'm fine. Schools just getting to me a bit." Harmony said quickly, taking a large gulp of her coffee.

"You're having nightmares?" Sirius asked, then sat down next to Harmony, completely squishing James into Lily on the couch and causing Lily to squeak a little, jump up and blush. Harmony saw Liven give Lily a smirk before Harmony turned back to Sirius.

"It's nothing. Just my stupid brain and overactive imagination, Sirius. They're not even nightmares, technically."

"Harmony..." Sirius started, eyebrows furrowing as he scanned her with worried eyes.

Becca continued as if she hadn't heard anything from Harmony or Sirius. "...and you get up and leave for hours at a time at night, Harms. Where do you go? You have no idea how scared I am that you've gone and got taken away by Death Eaters or worse-"

"REBECCA!" Harmony shouted, shutting Becca up quickly.

"You've been...going places at...night?" Sirius asked in a weird tone, looking into the fire, a frown line forming between his dark eyebrows.

Harmony opened her mouth to speak but saw the expression on his face and realized what he thought she was up to. "You think-" she burst out laughing, despite her tired body's protests. "That's _rich_." Harmony kept laughing, causing the rest of her mates to look over confusedly.

"Well, you're going places at night..."

"Not to cheat on the other half of my constellation! Gosh, Sirius. You're so negative." Harmony chuckled and kissed his cheek lightly, causing him to smile again. "Remember what I told you at the very beginning of the year? I used to break out of my house to go-"

"-look at the stars..." Sirius grinned a little. "And here I thought you were...oh nevermind."

Sirius laced his fingers through Harmony's in a way that made her believe everything was right in the world.

"PDA! PDA!" James gagged dramatically. "Bad enough that we've already seen you snog rather passionately on several occasions, but now you're going to turn into a typical sixteen-year-old couple, acting all mushy and-"

"James Potter." Sirius said sternly, sounding a little disturbed. "You're telling me that if you were not in my shoes with Lily instead of Harmony, you would not show some PDA? And we're a constellation, thank you very much."

Lily and James both looked shocked and blushed again, much to Liven's great amusement.

Harmony smiled weakly again. She felt so tired...so worn out. "Sirius, I need to go to bed."

"Okay, I'll walk you up." Sirius got up and offered a hand to Harmony.

"Look at this gentleman." She commented, talking the offered hand and pulling herself up. "Goodnight, guys! I'm going to hit the sack. See you tomorrow." Harmony called to her mates. They all replied with various versions of goodnights back.

At the bottom of the staircase, Harmony turned around and hugged Sirius gently, slipping her school bag off his broad shoulder in the process. "You'll wake me, if you have a nightmare?"Sirius asked.

"Sure." Harmony smiled up at him from under her eyelashes, not quite believing that this was Sirius holding her, feeling concerned for her. Caring about her. Sirius Black...who would have thought? "I'm really okay, Sirius. Don't worry about me. Playing with fire all my life toughens me up a bit, I reckon."

"Of course." Sirius rolled his eyes.

Harmony had just started up a few steps before Sirius was turning her back around to him.

"Yes?" She asked, loving the feel of his arms around her despite her back positively aching for her warm bed and her eyelids drooping with every passing second.

In answer, Sirius leaned in and touched his soft lips to hers, igniting instant sparks. Harmony pulled away after a moment, eyes closed and still smiling a little bit.

"This constellation feels millions of years old, not a week, to be honest." Harmony commented.

"I think it's been a long time coming." Sirius whispered.

"I agree." She laughed, but stopped quickly because a shuffle was heard from just behind the corner on the spiralling staircase.

"Did you-?" Harmony asked Sirius as she pulled away from him.

"Yeah..." Sirius said, looking past Harmony to up the stairs behind her. "Hello?"

No answer.

"I think someone's listening to us." Harmony hissed. Just then there was a shuffle followed by a door slam. "Oh that's a bit weird. And awkward." Harmony blushed and took her hands away from Sirius' neck.

Sirius just laughed and poked Harmony's blushing cheeks playfully. "Goodnight, Harmful. We still haven't given Hogwarts our 'bang' yet, remember."

"How could I forget?" Harmony grinned, bumping Sirius with her hip. "Goodnight."

"I'll walk you-"

"-up the stairs so they'll turn into a slide? No thanks, Siri-poo." Harmony waved and climbed up to the curve of the staircase where she would no longer be in Sirius' line of sight. Harmony only looked back once and when she did, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Sirius Black smiling back up at her, leaning against the wall, dark curly hair falling into his deep mysterious eyes.

* * *

"Ah, good morning Miss Sea." Professor Slughorn stopped lecturing the silent Potions class momentarily, for Harmony had just stumbled through the door, a couple buttons undone on her shirt, a half-eaten toast slice in her mouth, hair flying everywhere, dark circles under her eyes and half her school books in her arms.

"'Morning, Professor." She muttered, scanning the room through tired eyes for an empty seat and willing her mind to forget about the terrifying mental images that were still fresh memories from her most recent nightmare.

Lately, her only options were no sleep or nightmares.

"May I ask why you're late?"

Harmony mumbled something that resembled 'no caffeine'.

"I'm sorry, what?" Professor Slughorn leaned forward to hear her better, the buttons on his waistcoat threatening to pop off.

Harmony was glaring daggers at the professor. Before she could say anything else, Sirius jumped up. "Harms! So glad to see that smile back on your face. Come, sit now." He ran over to Harmony and practically dragged her to the spot beside Liven.

"Si-" she started, but Liven had already hopped up to assist Sirius.

They laid her potions stuff on her desk with amazing speed, speed for people who have had to do this many times before.

Sirius moved back to his spot behind the pair of girls when Liven muttered, "I got it."

"Got what? I'm not a child! You don't have to-" Harmony snapped.

"Hush." Liven said sternly, and she started to fix the mismatched buttons on Harmony's shirt.

"Thank you Liven, Black." Professor Slughorn turned and sighed at the dreadful sight of Harmony Sea that morning. "They should just not give you morning classes at all."

Harmony nodded, chewing her toast without enthusiasm as Liven yanked on her hair in an attempt at braiding it back. "That'd be nice. That way I'd actually learn things instead of trying to keep my eyes open."

"Well, we all have our desires." Professor Slughorn turned back to the whole class. "Miss Sea, I'll let you off this time."

"Thanks."

Good thing Harmony was pretty good in Potions, or the sixteen other times she was late would have resulted in detentions and not 'I'll let you off this time's.

The lecture started all over again. Finally, after about thirty minutes, Slughorn assigned them a potion to work on for the rest of class.

"Harms. Did you sleep at all last night?" Liven asked in a worried tone as they flipped to the correct page of their textbook to read the instructions.

"Not really." She admitted truthfully.

"Nightmares?"

Harmony nodded.

"Want to talk?" Liven asked.

"Not really." Harmony said again. "The less I think about them, the better."

"You should go back to bed, Harms." Liven whispered. "And did you tell Sirius about these nightmares?"

"No, they're not that big of a deal." Harmony shrugged.

Liven sighed. "Okay, well at least ask to go back to bed for a little. You're looking unhealthy."

"No. I don't want the teachers to know about the nightmares. The matron will lock me in the hospital wing or something, drugging me up on potions until the war is over."

"Well, make up an excuse then."

"Uh..." Harmony started. " I don't know! PMSing?"

Liven burst out laughing. "Oh man, could you _imagine_ Slughorn's face? I'll give you five galleons to tell him that."

"Deal." Harmony grinned, and stood up slowly.

"What's she-?" Sirius asked on behalf of him and James.

"Listen. Just listen." Liven's face was turning purple from holding in laughter.

Harmony approached the Slughorn's desk. He looked up at her with slightly annoyed eyes. "What is it, Miss Sea?"

"I think I need to leave class, Professor."

"And why might that be? Being late for my class wasn't enough?" Slughorn smiled horribly, thinking he had won with his oh-so-clever retort.

Harmony slammed her hands down on the desk, giving her best _I'm not someone to piss off now_ look. "Listen. I'm PMSing like the Niagara Falls, and I suggest that you _don't_ get on my bad side, for I am not the sixteen-year old girl to mess with right now, Professor."

"Stop! I don't need to hear any more!" Slughorn looked disturbed and embarrassed. "You-you may leave, Miss Sea." He muttered, dabbing sweat from his forehead with a pocket handkerchief.

Harmony glanced back behind her at her mates listening in on the conversation, barely concealing laughter. "Oh, and that reminds me. I was wondering if you have a potion for me? You see, the pain can get pretty bad around this time of month and I-"

"No! I am sorry, that is the matron's department! Go! You may leave!" The poor professor looked terrified and extremely uncomfortable.

Harmony smirked and shuffled back to her seat, holding out a hand in front of Liven who dug in her bag for the promised five galleons.

She turned and burst out laughing at the sight of Sirius and James' faces. They were staring at her wide-eyed, mouths hanging open.

"Close your mouths. You'll catch flies." Harmony grinned, pocketing the gold and grabbing her heavy school bag, sighing in relief at the prospect of falling asleep, nightmares or not.

* * *

Mad laughter rang through the crisp, tense air that sent chills down Harmony's spine.

"Looking for this?" A high pitched voice hissed suddenly in Harmony's ear.

Harmony whipped around and barely registered the horrible sight of Bellatrix Lestrange in the dark, circular room before an even worse sight was before her eyes.

Bonded by magic rope, gagged and tortured, lied Harmony's six-year old sister. Her hair wasn't shining anymore and her face resembled one of a skeleton with battered skin stretched across it.

"_Charlotte_!" Harmony screamed in horror, rushing to her sister's side.

Harmony only got to glance in Charlotte's petrified, tear-filled blue eyes before Bellatrix had grabbed Harmony and pulled her away from her only sister.

"_No! Get the hell away from her! From me_!" Harmony screamed again, thrashing out against Bellatrix's strong hold.

Bellatrix cackled. "You think I'll let you go that easy? Nice try, girly."

Ropes like Charlotte's wrapped around Harmony, slinking up her arms, wrapping around her legs and torso while Harmony screamed along with Charlotte.

Bellatrix laughed while Harmony continued to struggle and call out to her younger sister. "_Take me! Take me and leave Charlotte! Please! I'll do anything! Please_!" Harmony kept screaming at the top of her voice.

"I don't think that's how it works, now, is it?" Bellatrix cackled wickedly again, pulling out her long, dark, curved wand and pointing it directly at Charlotte, although her eyes stayed on Harmony. "Let's play a little game, shall we?"

"_NO! NO PLEASE! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU PLEASE_!" Harmony screamed and sobbed, her whole body hurting because she was crying so hard.

Charlotte was bawling too, her choked words piercing Harmony like a million shards of broken glass at once. "Harmony! What is this? What's happening? What's happening, Harmony? Who is this lady? She doesn't like me! She was hurting me!"

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Charlotte and mocked her. "_Whats happening? Save me, oh big sister! Save me even though you're tied up like me_!" Bellatrix laughed. "_Crucio_!"

Charlotte screamed. She screamed so loud the sound started to reverberate inside Harmony's head. It wasn't the screams that were the worst part. It was the words. They were worse than the desperately confused questions."Harmony!" She screamed, tears flowing freely down her young and innocent face. _"Why did you do this to me? She's only hurting me because of you! Help me! HELP ME HARMONY IT HURTS! IT HURTS, HARMONY_!" The rest of her words were drowned in screams of terror and agony.

Harmony yelled and screamed desperately while she scratched at her neck, her arms, her legs, trying to rip the tight rope off to save her only sister who was thrashing in pain. "PLEASE STOP I'LL DO ANYTHING! STOP! STOP IT! STOP YOU'RE HURTING HER STOP PLEASE! _KILL ME!_"

"Harmony."

_Scream_.

"STOP! STOP IT-"

"Harmony!"

_Scream_.

"KILL ME! TAKE ME!"

"_Harmony_!"

_Scream_.

"DON'T HURT HER! CHARLOTTE DON'T-"

"_HARMONY_!"

Harmony screamed and shot up in bed. Her hair was sticking to her face which was soaked with tears. The covers were twisted and wrapped around her almost suffocatingly, and blood stained the white sheets.

"What? Charlotte! What's-" Harmony started to shout but stopped dead at the sight waiting for her at the foot of her bed.

There stood Remus, James, Peter, Lily, Becca, Liven and Alice, all looking horrified and thoroughly shaken up. Becca had silent tears running down her face while Alice was rubbing her shoulder in a comforting way.

"What's-" Harmony choked out but stopped herself, for when she looked down she saw that her entire body was covered in claw-marks where she could have sworn she was bond by Bellatrix's ropes in those exact places just moments before. "Oh my g-"

"We couldn't wake you." Lily said shakily. James reached out and squeezed her hand.

"How-how much did you h-hear?" Harmony asked, untangling herself from the covers, her hands still shaking in shock, horror and fear.

"Just about everything." A voice beside her said, and she looked sideways to see Sirius standing over her. His facial expression was unreadable except for the shock and concern.

"Oh guys, I'm so sorry. I don't usually shout-" Harmony started to tear up again.

"You've had nightmares like this before? Harmony, why didn't you tell someone?" Liven asked sternly but gently.

"I-they're not that bad, okay?"

"_Hell_ yeah they are. I was terrified, okay? You were screaming and thrashing around and crying...you were digging and scratching your own flesh off for fuck's sake. That's more than _bad_." Sirius said, sitting on the side of Harmony's bed.

Harmony sat and thought for a moment. She thought about what she must have looked like. No doubt she woke up all of her dorm mates. They couldn't wake her up so they went to get the marauders probably...

An image of Bellatrix standing over Charlotte's unmoving and bloody body swam through her sea of thoughts again.

Harmony stumbled up and tripped over to the bathroom with lightening speed. When she got over the toilet, she proceeded to retch her entire stomach out, which wasn't that much anyway.

Someone was behind her, familiar, rough hands holding her mass of dark brown curly hair away from her face. "I'm-" she coughed. "-sorry."

Finally Harmony sunk to the floor, buried her face in her hands, and just cried. "I hate them! Bad enough they ruin my days, and now they ruin my nights, too! I bloody hate the lot!"

Sirius crouched down in front of her and moved a lock of hair away from her blotchy face. "Harmony." His voice cracked a little, but that one word comforted her beyond belief.

"Sirius..." She whispered back, finally opening her teary eyes and looking into Sirius' stormy grey ones. "I didn't mean to-"

"Stop. Stop apologizing, okay? This is in no way your fault." Sirius stood up and grabbed a cloth from the sink, wet it with the tap, and brought it back over to her.

"It was terrible. They're always terrible. I didn't want anyone to find out because they're so bad. I hate them and I don't want to sleep." Harmony said, a little childishly. Sirius sat down cross-legged across from Harmony and held her arm while he dabbed the scratches there. "Oh my gosh that's terrible." Harmony choked out, looking at all the blood she had on her.

"Shh. It's okay. I know some mending spells to fix you up." Sirius soothed, looking over at Harmony from under his long, thick lashes.

Harmony forgot everything for a moment and studied Sirius transfixed. "You're so beautiful, Sirius. You know that? Inside and out. I never imagined we'd be like this." Harmony whispered, tearing up a little for what felt like the millionth time that night.

In response, Sirius just reached out and traced a finger down Harmony's cheek. "So are you. Even if you look like you just got put in a cheese shredder."

Harmony laughed so weakly it was hardly a laugh at all. "Thanks."

Sirius finished with one arm and grabbed the other gently. "What time is it?" Harmony asked.

"'Bout two, I reckon." Sirius replied.

"I fell asleep when I came back up to the dorm after I left potions this morning...I've been sleeping since then? Wholy shit."

"You looked like you needed it before...now...I'm not so sure it was a good idea." Sirius said, and they stayed quiet for a couple long moments, the only movement being Sirius' gentle dabbing and wiping off blood from Harmony's scratches.

"Will we have matching scars, do you think?" Harmony smiled, tracing part of Sirius' long scars down his chest that were from (who else?) Bellatrix's nails.

"I think we just might." Sirius smiled a little, standing up and rinsing out the bloody cloth. He looked out the door for a second and called to their mates who were no doubt still out in the dorm room, "Yeah, she's okay. I'm just cleaning the cuts."

Harmony snatched Sirius' wand of the ground while he was at the sink and used a simple spell to vanish all the sick into thin air.

Then she started shivering violently because of the cold bathroom tiles freezing her through her thin pyjamas and exposed skin. When Harmony tried to stand, her knees were completely unstable due to how shaken up she was. So Sirius, being perfect and all, helped her up and guided her back to her four poster bed.

Harmony tried to avoid eye contact with all the people in the room as Sirius sat down next to her, gently lifted her bare leg, and started dabbing it with the cold, wet cloth. "Thanks." She whispered, trying not to break the pregnant silence.

"When did they start?" Liven asked hoarsely.

"Couple weeks ago." Harmony muttered.

Silence again.

"I'm fine now, guys. Go back to bed." Harmony told them.

"It's a Saturday tomorrow. We can catch up on sleep without missing class." Remus told her.

Silence.

"Why are you guys here?" Harmony asked.

"We're still trying to comprehend the terrifying form of Harmony Sea we woke up to." Becca replied.

Even more silence.

"Who's Charlotte?" James finally asked.

"My six-year-old sister." Harmony looked down again.

"Muggle?" James guessed.

"I don't think so." Harmony told him.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, switching to Harmony's other leg.

"It was..." Harmony bit her lip and looked out the window at the brightly twinkling stars. "They're always pretty much the same. Though sometimes it's with you guys and sometimes it's my family."

"And...?"

"Mainly Bellatrix Lestrange. Or some other Death Eater. Torture, pain, screaming, blood..." Harmony willed herself not to cry. She'd cried enough for a lifetime, thank you very much.

"I'm sorry." James muttered.

"It's not your fault." Harmony whispered.

Awkward silence.

"Guys, go to bed." Sirius finally said. "I'll stay with her. We'll see you in the morning, okay?" The last part was said to his mates more than Harmony's.

"Okay, fine." James said. Together they got up slowly and hopped on their broomsticks, flying back down the stairs a moment later.

Peter said just before he left, "Feel better, Harmony."

For some reason, Harmony was really touched by this. "Thanks, Pete. Goodnight."

He nodded and left, too.

The girls climbed into bed and Becca kissed Harmony's forehead whispering, "They're safe and sound, Harmony. Don't worry about them or us. We're all safe." Becca slid into her bed, too.

"Thanks, Becca." Harmony whispered, while she grabbed her own wand from the side table and cleaned the blood off her sheets.

Sirius watched her, and when she finished, he sat down on the edge of her bed and lifted her chin to dab away the blood from the claw marks on her neck. Sirius' eyes never left Harmony's and she tried to ignore the tingling along her skin where Sirius' fingers brushed her bare neck.

It felt like they'd been a constellation for more than just two weeks. It felt like two years.

Scratch that. More like two million years.

Sirius slid his hands down to her collarbones and shoulders, wiping away the little trickles of blood that dripped down from her neck. She shivered a little, finally looking down because the intensity of his gaze became too much. Sirius half-smiled and pulled his hands away, placing down the cloth and grabbing his wand instead. He started to mend the scratches one by one and wherever his wand touched Harmony's skin, warmth spread there like wildfire, closing up the wounds with amazing speed. only faint, pale scars remained.

Sirius finished and just started to stroke her cheek. Harmony felt so happy in that moment. Who wouldn't? With Sirius Black's gentle fingers stroking her cheeks, strikingly gorgeous grey eyes looking directly into hers, into her soul almost...Harmony was really putting her self control to the test. She didn't think her dorm mates would appreciate the sounds of passionate snogging as they try to go back to sleep for a couple more hours.

Harmony sighed and let the truth sink in slowly. All her loved ones were okay. They were safe.

"Come in," Harmony muttered, gesturing to the extra space in her bed and Sirius obliged immediately. He slipped inside the warm blankets and held his arms open for Harmony invitingly.

Harmony smiled, kissed his arm which was closest and curled up to Sirius whispering, "What in the world would I do without you, Sirius Black?"

* * *

"She needs it, okay? I do not ever want to see her in that state again." A female voice said sternly but quietly.

Harmony felt herself stirring, her senses becoming sharper.

"Well you can explain to her when she wakes up. You know what she'll do, right?" A deep, male voice said.

"It's worth a shot!"

"I will play no part in this. I want to actually live to see life outside of Hogwarts, maybe even get a job, a flat perhaps too." Harmony recognized this voice as Sirius'.

"But Sirius-"

"No, Becca. Firstly, I know she won't take it. That's for sure. Secondly, it will make her stop opening up to us because our response will be some sort of potion all the time. And thirdly, Harmony needs to get over this on her own, not by the aid of some potion."

"Do you want a repeat of last night or something? Because I for one do _not_." Becca said.

"Don't be daft, of course I don't. Just you need to let her figure this out on her own. Stop intervening." Sirius said.

"You know what? Excuse me for trying to help my _best fri_-"

"With what?" Harmony said quietly, stretching widely and moving hair out of her face.

"Uh-" Becca started nervously

"Harmony! How are you?" Sirius asked.

"Good." Harmony replied, inspecting her arms and legs.

"That's good," Sirius said.

"Time?

"Eleven in the morning."

"Awesome. Where's everyone else?"

"Mostly in the common room." Sirius said.

"Did you just wake up?" Harmony asked him, spying his lack of proper clothing.

"I did." Sirius said, nodding.

Becca cut in. "Harms. Last night...it was a bit scary for all of us. That's why this morning I went to the hospital wing." Harmony started to get up, her whole body aching from all the sleep. "The matron gave me this potion for you to take every night to keep the dreams away. It's a dreamless sleep potion."

Harmony whipped to Becca and muttered. "Fat chance I'm taking that."

"Harmony, it will keep the dreams away-"

"I don't need some bloody potion."

"I know you like being independent and all, but I think this time it would be wise to use Madam Pomfrey's advice-"

"She's the mad lady who drugged me to sleep for two days straight! That's not happening again."

Sirius barely could contain his_ I told you so_ smile as he stepped closer to Harmony and placed a comforting hand on the small of her back.

"Why don't you want to take it?" Becca asked, shaking the bottle of blue liquid in Harmony's face.

"Because I don't trust that matron! She has a habit of going a tad overboard sometimes and besides, I need to figure this out on my own as Sirius said before. Reading helps. School helps." Harmony said an added silently in her mind _Sirius helps_. She stepped closer to Sirius. He got the message loud and clear.

"Distraction?" Becca asked.

"Yeah, that's why I go to the Astronomy Tower. The stars are always so beautiful."

"Well I still think that-" Becca started again.

"No. I appreciate you trying to help me, and I love you for it, but I really don't want it." Harmony said.

"Fiiiiiinnnneee." Becca sighed. "I'm going back down the common room then. See you in a bit."

"Okay." Harmony called.

"Didn't I prove to be a good distraction before? Remember in the corridor?" Sirius smirked and started to hug Harmony.

"I need to brush my teeth." Harmony blushed and made a beeline to the bathroom.

"So we can repeat the methods of distraction with nice breath?" Sirius asked hopefully, leaning against the doorframe.

"Depends. Do you have coffee?"

"Uh, no-"

"Then nice try."

"But-!" Sirius started.

"No. Now go get dressed, brush your teeth, hair, clean yourself...go on. Back to your dorm." Harmony said with her tooth brush hanging out of her mouth. She pushed Sirius out of the dormitory doorway, gave him a nice pat on the bum to get him going down the stairs, which turned into a slide, and called to the image of Sirius' puppy dog eyes sliding down the spiral slide, "Don't look so down, pup!"

Harmony shut the door, smiled, and allowed just a little hope to enter her heart from all the concern and aid she'd gotten within the last couple hours. Maybe, just maybe, all this love would defeat old Voldy. Maybe, just maybe, Harmony and all her loved ones would make it out of this war, unhurt, alive and well.

Maybe, just maybe...

**A/N- I'm desperately trying to make up for the late chapters. So, here you go.**

**Thank you guys for the favourites, follows, and reviews! They make me so happy it's unbelievable.**

**I have a question. What do you think of Harmony? Harmony and Sirius together? Because I have some ideas for future chapters, but I need some feedback in order for me to decide if they will be a yay or nay, and also if I'm portraying the characters the way I want them to be.**


	15. Parties and Presents

"Reckon we've got enough, Prongs?" Sirius said, while the two of them paid for their alcohol at the Hogshead's bar.

"Yeah, I think we do." James replied, grinning so wide his cheeks must have hurt.

The grumpy bar tender told them the total and between the two of them, the boys coughed up a small fortune and handed it to the tender with a whisper of, "Keep the change as long as you keep quiet about our little, ah, purchase."

The little old man stopped rubbing a dirty bottle with an even dirtier cloth to count the money through narrowed eyes. When he saw how much change he would keep, he smiled greedily and nodded.

Harmony snorted loudly and commenced putting spells on box after box of the butterbeer and Firewhiskey.

"Harmful! You're brilliant!" James praised while he mimicked Harmony's spell and was movements. Together, the three teens giggled and whispered all the way back out to the dark and deserted Hogsmeade street, carefully balancing their wands as to not drop any of the crates.

"This is going to be the best after-match party ever, guys!" James squealed like a little girl, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yeah, it probably will be." Sirius grinned and gave a sidelong glance at Harmony, who grinned evilly back.

This party would be a _blast_.

...Literally.

James didn't notice this little exchange. Instead, he just started rambling on at the speed of light about all his fantastic swerves and dives while going for the snitch throughout the Quidditch match earlier that day. Sirius rolled his eyes at James' lack of credit towards him, for Sirius, a beater, had hit a bludger out of James' path while James sped towards the snitch that crowned Gryffindor victorious.

The three teens had opted out of dinner and snuck into Hogsmeade to purchase the final missing element for their big party; the beloved and sought-after alcohol.

They arrived at the colourful and attractive entrance to Honeydukes and casting quick spells upon the crates to make them seemingly disappear in mid-air, Sirius, Harmony and James entered through the chiming door.

James nodded at the young cashier, who nodded towards the stairway down to the cellar. They stumbled down loudly and continued over to the little hole in the ground, which was a secret passageway into Hogwarts.

"Guys, I'm so excited!" Harmony smiled in the darkness, as the light from Honeydukes got smaller, farther away as they ventured close and closer to Hogwarts.

Sirius laughed. "Between you and James, you guys could pass for a group of twelve-year-old girls!"

James whacked Sirius on the shoulder, which switched James' focus enough for one of his crates to fall.

"You twit!" Sirius cried as they heard a smash.

James quickly turned the crate visible again to survey the damage. Only one bottle of butterbeer seemed to be cracked, and the warm liquid was slowly trickling down the dusty glass. "Damn it, James!" Harmony directed her own crates with her wand so they settled down in a neat pile, as Sirius did the same, making the rest of the crates appear again in the process.

James just grinned. "Hey Harmful, I'll give you-" James dug in his pocket quickly for change, which he counted. "-four sickles to chug the rest of the butterbeer." He gesture towards the cracked bottle.

Harmony thought for a second, gazing at the promised sickles in James' outstretched hand. She glanced up to see that Sirius and James wore identical smirks, arms crossed across their chests, black air falling into their eyes. In the darkness, she could barely tell them apart. They really could be biological brothers.

A smile creeped onto Harmony's face as she said, "Deal."

Picking up the bottle, she flicked her hair over her shoulder over-dramatically, and lifted the crack in the bottle to her lips. The liquid started to trickle down her chin as she gulped it down, and she frantically tried to wipe it while James and Sirius whopped and hollered like they were at a muggle football game or something.

About a quarter minute later, the last drops of butterbeer were out of the bottle and Harmony threw it down, gasping for breath and coughing, but grinning widely nevertheless.

"Didn't know you had it in you!" James laughed, handing her the promised money, while Harmony bowed.

"Ah, you'd be surprised."

"Under a minute! James can't even do that!"Sirius laughed and high-fived Harmony, his eyebrows raised on his forehead.

"I can so!" James replied indignantly.

"You wish, Prongs." Sirius said, as James and Sirius started to wrestle good-naturedly.

"Hey! _Hey!"_ Harmony yelled, and they tore apart, dust and dirt soiling their Quidditch uniforms from the scuffle on the unclean passageway floor.

"What?" James asked.

"I'll be the judge of who can do what. Both of you, let's go." Harmony handed them both a bottle from the cracked crate. "I'll time, you drink."

The dark passageway lit only by Sirius' wand, the two boys guzzled down their bottles, while Harmony started laughing for they had started a sort of petty slap fight, each trying to knock the other's bottle from their lips.

Sirius finished first, in about the same time as Harmony. "Ha! I'm better!" Sirius declared, while swooping in on Harmony for a triumphant kiss, which her face warmed up instantly for despite the sticky butterbeer on her lips.

"You're stupid." James muttered a moment later, while he collected the empty bottles and placed them back into the crate.

"Oh Prongsie, don't be sour." Sirius taunted, pulling away from Harmony who was fighting off strong temptations to just grab Sirius and kiss him again.

James ignored them and continued on his way down the passageway, his crates invisible and no doubt floating along beside him.

"Oooh, the silent treatment, eh?" Sirius asked, an evilly challenging smile spreading across his handsome features.

A couple moments later, Sirius and Harmony were hot on James' heels, wands raised for their own crates of alcohol.

"So, Sirius, did you know that Lily's favourite bra is her red, lacy one? And it's a push-up, too." Harmony said loudly, eyes on James' back.

"Oh! I did not know that! How so wonderful!" Sirius replied in the same fake tone Harmony used.

James didn't reply.

Harmony scooted forward and pinched James' bum in his Quidditch pants. He yelped and whipped on Harmony. "What the hell?"

Sirius had to stop because he started laughing so hard. Harmony was afraid that she would've had to fetch Sirius a new pair of pants if he didn't stop.

"Well, you were ignoring us!" Harmony said back, tapping James' nose.

"You're lucky you and Sirius are a little 'constellation' or you'd have purple hair right now." James hissed.

"I'm terrified. Really." Harmony said sarcastically. "You really think that between Lily and I, we wouldn't know the counter spell to that jinx? And besides, I've always liked purple. When I was eleven I had streaks of pink hair."

James looked at Harmony for a long moment, who looked right back. His lips started twitching from the effort not to smile.

Sirius came up and stopped beside Harmony, glancing between James and Harmony. "What's-"

"_HA!"_ Harmony screeched when James finally broke out in a smile. "I'm a riot and you couldn't resist laughing!"

"Shut it, you." James made a series of odd faces, trying to contain his laughter.

"You lot are weird." Sirius concluded, leading the way down the passageway once again.

"Oh, you flatter me." Harmony said dryly.

Sirius grunted in response and the passageway slanted up as they approached the opening in the stone wall behind the one-eyed witch statue.

It took about ten minutes, lots of shushing, and a few curse words, but Sirius, James and Harmony finally made it successfully out of the passageway and into Hogwarts, entirely unnoticed. Despite the dust and dirt on their clothing, the teens were pretty happy about their little excursion.

Well, until Professor Slughorn appeared almost out of thin air before them. Actually, they just turned the corner in a corridor, but appearing out of thin air sounded more accurate based on Harmony's reaction.

She screamed loudly, and almost lost all her crates to the stone floor before she managed to pull herself together.

"Miss Sea! What on Earth?" Slughorn cried.

"My mistake, Professor. You scared the shit out of me, to be quite frank." Harmony said. Sirius snorted.

"Please mind your language." Slughorn said tiredly. "And why are you folks not at dinner? Not out to cause mischief, I hope?"

"No, not at all, Professor. Why would you think otherwise?" James asked, laying the innocent-act on pretty thick.

Harmony elbowed hard in the ribs. "Well, I had a nightmare last night, Professor, and I wasn't feeling too hot today, and I think it's getting worse as my bedtime gets closer. The thought of going back to bed doesn't calm me very much, you see. I fancied a walk and these two must have known I wasn't doing well, so they accompanied me, as the true, kind-hearted souls they are." Harmony couldn't help throwing in the last part.

"Oh, I see. Well, get going of to your dorms, now. You don't want to be caught out of Gryffindor Tower after hours." Slughorn turned to leave but remembered something and swivelled back to the relieved teens. "Good match today James, Sirius, by the way. And, ah, I hope for not more disturbances while you sleep, Miss Sea."

James and Sirius muttered thank you's along with Harmony, and the Professor wobbled away again.

"Did you really have a nightmare?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"It wasn't bad. Really. I woke up before it got to the really bad part." Harmony told him sincerely, walking a few steps ahead.

Harmony's nightmares hadn't been bad (like-wake-everyone-up-screaming-and-clawing-herse lf bad) within the last few weeks. She suspected that it was because no more attacks had been made on anyone she knew personally, and a certain Sirius Black helped a great deal. (Come on, who wouldn't have slept soundly if you had a gorgeous, fit, caring sixteen-year-old boy snuggled up in bed with you after a nightmare?)

Harmony continued to refuse the dreamless sleep potion, but the longer she endured these nightmares, the more she was temped to take it. She hated the scarring and horrific images her over-creative mind repeatedly interrupted her sleep and tortured her with. She _hated_ it. But really, they were dreams, right? That was what she kept telling herself, like a constant chant in her dizzying mind.

The problem was, she didn't know that they were dreams when she was _in_ the dreams. She only found out after she woke up, sweating, tangled in covers, and sometimes crying. (There had been no more blood, scratching, or anything of that sort.)

Harmony also found that she had been completely and wholly thrown into the world of books once again. So much, that you couldn't find her without some heavy novel nestled under her arm at all times. Sirius started to complain that she spent more time reading than snogging him, so Harmony promptly cut this statement off by dragging Sirius out of the common room, snogging the day lights out of him for a good three minutes, all the while casting jinxes on him. After she pulled away, Harmony whipped out one of her mate's cameras, took a picture of his ridiculous hair style (bleach-blonde, and spiky-haired, actually) and used a strong sticking charm to put it on the inside of the portrait hole.

Let's just say people laughed for a long time and Sirius was torn between annoyance, fear, and pride. He later told James (who told Lily who told Becca who told Harmony) that it was '_so worth the snog_'.

Leave it to Sirius to let slip he happened to be 'getting action' (as all the immature gits around Harmony's age say) while he was pranked.

Always the macho man.

So, Harmony snuck in his room in the middle of the night, poked his face for five whole minutes before he woke up, and to Sirius' disbelief, told him to 'drop the macho-man act, you ninny'. She then left and fell back asleep in her own dorm, leaving Sirius wide awake at three am.

Despite all the pranks and giggles going on, Harmony still had some problems that were really starting to stress her out. She hadn't seen her family since Christmas, and she was slowly going insane missing them. If she had it her way, Harmony would have been at her house right then, watching over her family for any sign of danger like a protective guard dog or something.

Alas, Dumbledore nor the Ministry deemed it a good idea for Harmony to leave the castle, as the darkest wizard in the world had his heart set on killing Harmony at the moment.

This just made her even more angry. She really was beginning to hate this feeling of being watched all the time, being controlled, being confined.

Harmony, Sirius and James arrived at the portrait hole. They muttered the password, directed their crates through the little doorway, and finally let them drop to the floor with a clang that made Harmony flinch.

"I'll be down in a bit...I need to freshen up." Harmony told them.

"We'll be here, setting up and such and then I need to change." Sirius replied, winking at Harmony. Her heart skipped a beat.

He's just so damn attractive.

"Awesome." She managed and then sprinted up the stairs as if old Voldy was hot on her heels.

She crashed into her dorm, where Lily, Becca, Liven and Alice were all buzzing around, finishing the last minute touches on their makeup and hair.

"Hey, Harms!" Liven called out. Then she turned to Harmony. "Oh no. Uh uh. What the _hell_ died in your hair? And ripped jeans? No, I don't think so."

"Hey-!" Harmony protested, half-insulted. What was wrong with ripped jeans and a jumper? She always dressed like that.

Liven just grabbed hold of Harmony's arm, yanking her over to her trunk at the foot of her bed.

"Okay, let's see." Liven rummaged through, making a show of tossing all of Harmony's knickers and bras on the ground just to embarrass her.

Harmony snatched them up, blushing. "What are you doing-"

"_Oh_! This is adorable! Yes, you are _so_ wearing this." Liven triumphantly held up a lilac cotton skirt that was meant to be tucked into a tank top or something. It flowed to just above the knee.

"But-" Harmony started, regarding the skirt with mild distaste. "It's a _skirt._"

"And you will wear it, Harmony Sea. With this," Liven pulled out a simple white tank top. "and this." The final item she pulled out of Harmony's messy and overstuffed trunk was a denim jacket. "You are going to look gorgeous."

"Must I really-" Harmony was cut off by Lily.

"Oh that's _adorable_! You so have to wear that." Lily exclaimed, a mascara brush hovering in front of her face, waiting for Lily to turn back around so it could complete the job.

Becca and Alice turned to see what all the excitement was about, and joined in with the squealing.

"Fine! Give me them so I can put them on! Wholy shit, it's like I'm twelve again." Harmony grabbed the clothing and rushed to the loo to put them on, needing to escape the swarm of giggles and cries of _how adorable!_

When Harmony emerged a couple moments later, Lily was already there attacking her face with all sorts of makeup and Liven and Alice were discussing hair.

"Here we go," Harmony muttered.

* * *

Finally, she was done.

"You're making it seem like a graduation ball or something. It's just a bloody party." Harmony muttered, standing up and inspecting her reflection.

Harmony supposed she looked pretty good. The clothes were simple, yet quite a change from her normal attire, but somehow the denim jacket and skirt worked for her. Her hair was tame, long, curly and shiny, which she really liked. Her makeup was barely noticeable which was good, because it would look odd if people saw Harmony wearing tons of makeup all of the sudden. It pretty much just brought out her eyes.

Harmony smiled. "Thanks. I reckon I look pretty, er, clean."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You should have just stopped at 'pretty'. You look awesome!"

"Thanks, Lils."

Liven cut in, holding a pair of black heels. "You have to wear these."

Harmony burst out laughing. "Nice one. Like _that's_ going to happen. I'm good with my converse, thanks."

"You-what-?"

Harmony yanked on her converse again, grinning because she thought that the outfit looked even better. "They look good with the skirt and stuff!"

"Harmony Sea-" Liven started sternly.

"Nope, you can't make me take them off."

Liven pounced on Harmony, trying to wrestle the shoes off her feet.

"Liven!" Harmony screeched, half-laughing.

"This is no laughing matter!" Liven yelled back.

"Lily!" Harmony called for help.

Becca and Alice were back to doing their hair again and Lily was trying to not giggle from her spot on Becca's bed.

Harmony was losing this little battle, so she just finally decided to bite Liven's arm. Needless to say, it got the desired reaction.

"Ouch!" Liven sprung off Harmony, looking shocked. "Did you just _bite_ me?"

"Yup!" Harmony called and she was already flying out of the room, grabbing her wand from the nightstand before she left.

The party was in full swing when Harmony got to the bottom of the staircase. Girls and boys alike were already stumbling around with bottles in their hands, snogging each other and dancing to the glass-shatteringly loud music.

Harmony scanned the room for Sirius or any of the marauders.

Preferably Sirius, actually.

People, especially boys, kept their eyes on Harmony for a split second longer than they usually did as she passed though the crowd. She was quite aware that she looked a lot more confident and brave than she actually was in her skirt. Harmony for once felt like a real sixteen-year-old girl going to a party, and not just the bookworm invited because her friend was. And she was with a _boy_. An actual, live, shit-a-brick gorgeous boy.

It was exciting. And odd. But more exciting.

Harmony pushed through the mob of dancing people, looking for a certain black-haired, grey-eyed Sirius Black.

Suddenly, a hand was slowly trailing down her back. She whipped around and came face to face with an ugly looking seventh year.

"I don't think we've met before. My name is Jim." He leaned in too close for comfort.

"Pleasure." Harmony said through gritted teeth, her eyes rolling all around in their sockets desperately trying to find Sirius.

"I like that skirt on you...but how about I help you take it off?" Jim said, smiling horribly and placing his hand on Harmony's back again.

"_No, thank you_." Harmony hissed coldly, smacking his arm away, as she tried to blend back into the crowd.

"Mm, feisty, are we? I like feisty, actually. It makes _everything_ more interesting." Jim tried to tuck a stray curl behind Harmony's ear, but before he could even brush her cheek, another hand had slapped it away.

"Hands _off_, bud." Sirius glared at Jim, sliding a hand down Harmony's arm to grip her fingers.

"Oh, there's a boyfriend." Jim said flatly, looking up at Sirius who was quite a bit taller.

"Constellation," Harmony corrected.

"What?" Jim looked confused.

"Nothing." Harmony told him, stepping closer to Sirius to avoid the fifth-year couple stumbling around, snogging a little too passionately for a public area. Harmony almost gagged when she saw all the spit dripping down from their mouths. That was bloody _nasty_. Guess who had never kissed anyone before? Those two.

"Ah, I see." Jim nodded, swallowed, and awkwardly disappeared into the crowd again.

"Oh _ew_." Harmony shuddered, turning to Sirius, relived that Jim was gone (and also that couple had retired o the couches).

"Agreed. He had those slimy hands all over you. What did he say, anyway?" Sirius turned to fully face Harmony.

"He offered help in the removal of my skirt." Harmony replied, ignoring Sirius' many rude names that he was listing off to describe Jim. She permitted her eyes to wander down Sirius for just a moment as he ranted.

Clothing as simple as dark denim jeans and a blue-green-red plaid button down shirt and he still looked like a god? How was this possible?

_Because it's Sirius Black_, a little voice whispered in Harmony's head.

"I saw that." Sirius whispered.

Harmony blushed scarlet and decided to play innocent. "What?"

"You just checked me out." Sirius said bluntly, crossing his arms and grinning down at her.

"Pfft. Yeah okay." Harmony said sarcastically (even though that was _exactly_ what she'd been doing).

"Don't deny it, Harmful!" Sirius sing-songed.

"Yeah, okay, fine. I was. Get over it." Harmony admitted, her face like a tomato.

"Does that mean I'm allowed to check you out?" Sirius asked, his eyes traveling down Harmony without waiting for permission

After a moment, his stormy grey eyes met Harmony's green-brown ones. Tucking that curl behind Harmony's ear, Sirius whispered, "You look beautiful."

Harmony's heart skipped a beat. "Oh, um-"

Beautiful?

She'd never been called beautiful by anyone of the male gender before. It felt kind of nice.

"You're so adorable, you know that?" Sirius said affectionately, tapping Harmony's red cheeks lightly.

All this affection was making Harmony's head spin.

Sirius laughed and pulled away from Harmony a little, understanding her need for air. "Butterbeer?"

"Please," Harmony replied.

Sirius grabbed her hand and led her to the table where a seemingly endless supply of alcohol was set up neatly. Kids were swarming the table and hands were greedily grabbing at the bottles as if they had never had anything so magnificent.

Sirius snatched two away and gestured for Harmony to follow him over to the couch where all of their mates sat talking and joking around like always.

They drank their butterbeer while laughing and jumping in on the conversation. Pretty soon the bottles on the table were starting to pile up, and everyone was ready to dance.

James boldly stood up first, turning to Lily. "Want to dance?"

Lily's cheeks started to warm up. "Uh-"

"Yes, she does!" Liven screamed, shoving Lily into James.

Next was Alice and Frank and then Liven grabbed some sixth-year Ravenclaw and no sooner than they got up, they were off snogging the brains out of each other under one of the many torches in a corner of the room.

"A Ravenclaw at a Gryffindor after-match Quidditch party? That's a bit weird." Becca commented.

Peter got up and wandered away in search of food. Sirius stood up and offered his hand out to Harmony like a gentleman, the understanding of Becca and Remus being left alone together passing between them.

Being alone together equals awkwardness equals Remus asking Becca to dance equals dates equals kisses equals love equals engagement equals marriage equals babies equals eternal happiness with each other.

Yeah, Harmony spent a little too long on this topic

Harmony took Sirius' hand, and with a suggestive grin at Remus and Becca, turned and disappeared into the mob of drunk and dancing teens with Sirius.

They shoved their way into the centre of the huge group and tried not to get jumbled around too much by everyone else. Suddenly, Sirius took Harmony's waist. He guided her in some sort of ridiculous tango of stepping on feet and stumbling into other couples.

After the song had ended, Harmony dropped Sirius' hand and almost peed herself laughing.

Sirius grinned, yelling to be heard over the music. "I'm good, aren't I?"

"Brilliant, Siri-poo. Simply brilliant, darling."

Sirius and Harmony just continued to dance, sometimes real dancing but mostly series of insane and outdated tacky moves.

"When are we going to-" Harmony started a little while later, panting from laughing and feet aching from dancing.

"How's now?" Sirius asked.

"Let's do it."

Sirius and Harmony skirted to the edges of the mob of people, raised their wands, and slowly took all the charms off the hundreds of water balloons hanging from the ceiling to make them appear again. They seemed, if possible, even bigger from when they were hung merely two hours before.

"Ready?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Yeah- one, two, three- _go_!" Harmony raised her wand along with Sirius and together they blew up every last balloon, dumping water on everyone dancing and lounging around the common room.

Harmony burst out laughing at the faces of utter shock and disbelief on everyone's faces. "Phase two?"

Sirius summoned the crate of fireworks from across the room and reached in to grab one. He chucked it out to roughly the middle of the dancing people and smiled evilly as the water set it off. Screams were heard as colour whizzed and banged throughout the room.

Harmony grabbed an armful and started lobbing fireworks all over the place. Soon, it was just a big room full of screaming, laughing and sopping wet people with fireworks exploding everywhere into bursts of colour chasing each other around.

"Let's get out of here!" Harmony squeaked, as a certain red-haired Lily Evans had whipped around and was using her best prefect glare on the pair.

Sirius grabbed Harmony and together they stumbled tipsily out of the portrait hole into the cool and silent castle.

"Success or what?" Harmony smiled widely.

"We gave them our bang, alright." Sirius suddenly stopped Harmony and hugged her.

"What's the time?"

"It was twelve-oh-nine when we left." Sirius replied in Harmony's hair.

"Sirius! Happy Seventeenth Birthday! March twelfth! And you can use magic outside of Hogwarts legally now! Lucky ass." Harmony sprung away from him and dug in the pocket of her jacket for a moment.

"Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! Thanks!" Sirius smiled, his eyes twinkling, hair falling into his face.

"I got you something small, because I wasn't sure what you'd want-"

"You didn't need to do that." Sirius interjected.

"Hush." Harmony said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him over to the nearest window for some light.

Harmony fiddled with something around his wrist for a moment before she moved her hands so he could look.

It was a little leather bracelet. When Sirius leaned in, he could see that the sides formed a kind of braided pattern before it was interrupted by a little circular metal charm with the outline of a dog engraved on it.

"Harmony...thank you so much!" Sirius said, grinning really widely along with Harmony.

"You like it?" Harmony asked, tucking hair behind her ear.

In response, Sirius wrapped his arms firmly around Harmony and spun her around, her feet lifting off the ground. She bit back a scream and replaced it with hysterical laughter.

"Sirius!" Harmony laughed.

He just kept spinning her and spinning her.

Finally Harmony was put back down on her feet and the second she was down she closed her eyes.

Sirius' warm breath tickled her face suddenly, and she opened her eyes to look up at him. "Can I kiss you?" Sirius asked.

Harmony nodded and leaned in, already in anticipation. Their lips touched and everything else in the entire world was irrelevant.

Harmony lost her hands in Sirius' hair and his hands slipped under the back of her denim jacket where they met the soft fabric of her tank top.

Harmony was in total bliss as their lips danced along each other, but it was cut short.

A clang was heard along with a quiet cuss word.

Harmony and Sirius pulled back, their eyes wide as they looked at each other. "What was that?" Harmony whispered.

Sirius shifted Harmony a bit so he could look over the top of her head from where the noise sounded.

"Is someone there?" He called.

No reply.

"Sirius," Harmony brought his face back down to hers and planted kisses on his cheek, all the while hissing words in between.

To someone who wasn't within hearing range, it just looked like Harmony was quietly kissing him.

"The last few weeks, ever since that night in the stairwell-" _kiss_ "-when we overheard someone listening at the top of the stairs-" _kiss_ "-I think someone has been following us around."

Prickles crept up Sirius' neck at the thought of yet another person becoming a threat to Harmony.

"Let's go back now?" Sirius whispered, not liking the sound of this.

"Yeah."

Sirius held Harmony's hand while they went back to the common room without finding not even one other soul along the way.

The last thing anyone needs is a little spy 24/7.

And unfortunately, that's what Sirius and Harmony seemed to have found.

**A/N- Ah, yes, two weeks late. I have exactly this many excuses- 0000000.**

****I AM AWARE THAT SIRIUS BLACK WAS NOT BORN IN THE SPRING BUT FOR THIS STORY IT WORKS SO I CHANGED IT****

**Thank you guys sososososo much for all the reviews. You people make my life. Megan asked me if I based Harmony off myself, and the answer is kindasortasometimesnotreally. (I made that word up, if you didn't notice). Some of the characteristics are of my own, along with experiences or conversations I've had. But I'd say 92% of Harmony and the rest of my story is just what my mind cooked up, and not based on myself at all. (Well, obviously what you recognize from Harry Potter is not mine at all, because that is all JK Rowling's. But I own Harmony. So hah. I own something.)**

**Okay, I am so glad I got this chapter done. The next few weeks are going to be insanely busy for me. So, hopefully chapters will be out on time.**

**And by the way, I think I've got a pretty good idea of what the rest of my story will be like. I'm seriously contemplating doing seventh year too, because I'm definitely going to be writing about the summer of sixth. Or maybe I will just make seventh year a sequel. I'm not sure yet.**

**Until then, lovelies.**


	16. Letters and Lies

"Oh my _gosh_," Lily breathed out, her face reflecting all the shock she felt.

"What?" Liven asked, while getting up from her bed and making her way over to Lily's.

The girls were all in their dorm, still trying to recover from the massive hangovers from the wild after-match Quidditch party the night before. Well, that was mainly Harmony and Liven. Lily, Alice and Becca drank more responsibly.

Lily had just received a letter, which no one took interest in, assuming it was just one of James' love letters again.

"Tuney..." Lily suddenly started, dropping the letter her shaking hands were holding. "She's getting married! And-and...she said-" Lily's eyes slowly filled with tears.

"Oh no," Liven muttered, and Alice stopped painting Becca's model-worthy toenails (seriously, they were like perfect for toes) to surround Lily's bed along with Harmony.

Harmony watched Lily try to hold back the tears. "Can we read the letter?" Harmony asked quietly, her voice reflecting all the sympathy, anger and dread she felt.

Lily bit her lip and nodded.

Harmony glanced out the window to see the sun had already set. Dinner would be soon. Then she read the letter scribbled in a messy, long-lettered attempted-cursive scrawl across the page.

_Lily,_

_Vernon has proposed to me, and we will be married in the summer. I do not want you to come, for our guests are important people that have no time for nonsense like yourself. However, Mother is forcing me to invite you, so consider this your invitation because I am not wasting a real invitation on a freak I do not want at my wedding. I swear to God that if you do anything to mess up my day, I will never talk to you again, and I will disown myself from the family. Dress in dark colours so nobody notices you're there. Do not respond to this letter, because Vernon's patience for you stops when I send this letter._

_ Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley_

"That wicked little bitch!" Liven screamed. Lily burst into sobs worthy of a woman who lost her son aboard the Titanic.

"I-I don't know what I _did_! I've tried-tried apologizing but it doesn't work! She j-just keeps-" Lily couldn't continue.

"Oh, come here, Lils." Becca and Liven rubbed Lily's back comfortingly while Alice invaded the secret chocolate stash in their dorm to bring some for Lily.

"That's horrid," Harmony said, sitting cross-legged on the ground between beds. "Lils I'm so sorry. But there's only couple things we can do now."

"W-what?" Lily sniffled.

"Dress you in bright colours so you outshine the bride and bring a hot date."

"But-but she said-" Lily stuttered tearfully. It broke Harmony's heart.

"What can be worse than what she's doing now? I'm sorry, it might sound bad, but she's already kind of shunned you. So, why on Earth would you fuel her power over you by obeying her? She doesn't control you. She's your sister, not God." Harmony stood up. "I'll be back. I'm going to get you a tea."

Lily smiled weakly. "Thanks,"

Suddenly, an idea popped into Harmony's mind, making her smile evilly. She grabbed the girls' camera off the desk and turned to take a picture.

_FLASH!_

"Harmony, I love you, but this is _not_ the time to take pictures." Liven hissed out the side of her mouth, her eyes still on Lily and her face never breaking character from it's sympathetic-angry-how-dare-you-say-that-to-Lils mode it seemed to be frozen in.

"Oh, I think it's quite perfect," Harmony muttered, slipping the freshly developed photo into the container of special potion to make the photo move which was settled on the desk top.

Satisfied, she left.

Harmony turned towards the boys' dorms when she got into the common room. Going up the stairs, she pondered how horrific a person had to be to say that sort of thing to their own sister. Harmony tried to picture herself saying that to Charlotte, and shuttered at the shame she felt at the mere thought.

Harmony knocked on the marauder's door, which was a change as she usually burst in without a second thought. She was feeling mature.

"Who issssss it?" James' voice singsonged from inside the dormitory.

"Santa." Harmony replied sarcastically, crossing her arms and cocking a hip.

"_What?!" _James screeched, yanking the door open. He made a show of looking disappointed when he saw it was Harmony. "Oh. It's you."

"Oh, it's me...bearing news about your Lily Flower." Harmony pushed past James, pretending not to see the look of delight on his face at the mention of Lily.

"Hello, Harmful." Sirius greeted with a raspy voice as if he just woke up, giving her a half-hug.

"Were you sleeping?" Harmony laughed, taking in Sirius' (DROOL-WORTHY) bare chest and plaid pyjama bottoms.

"Just woke up before you came." He grinned and attempted to flatten his rather attractive bed head.

She ruffled his hair even more. "Well, Happy Birthday! I would get you a cake or something, but I think we did enough birthday partying last night." Harmony said, grinning as Sirius turned green.

"I don't think I'll ever eat cake or drink firewhiskey again." Sirius sat back down on his bed, Harmony following suit.

Remus and Peter greeted Harmony, while James plopped back down on his bed and continued playing with his golden snitch. "So, something about Lily?" He tried to sound nonchalant, but alas, when was James ever nonchalant when it regarded Lily?

"You are all aware of her relationship with her sister?" They nodded at Harmony.

"Well, her sister sent a letter just now. Said she's getting married. Basically, Petunia called Lily some foul things and said that she was forced to invite Lily to her wedding, even though she didn't want to. She said that if Lily messed up her 'big day' in anyway she would pretty much shun her. Not a big difference to what Petunia's doing now, to be honest." Harmony concluded.

"Is she okay? Oh I should go over there. Oh man. I-" James stood up and strode towards the door.

"No, I don't think it's wise to go in there right now. I said I'd get her a tea, but how about you go do that and deliver it to her? By the time you bring it to her, I reckon she'll have probably calmed down a bit." Harmony suggested, and before she got the words out, James had bolted from the dorm.

Remus scooted out of his bed and approached Harmony. "Is she really upset?" He asked quietly, his honey brown hair a cute mess atop his head.

"Yeah, she was crying pretty hard when I left." Harmony rubbed her arms like she was cold. She _was_ cold; just not physically.

"Poor thing." Remus said sympathetically. "I don't know how anyone could treat Lily like that. She's such a good person."

"I think James has pretty much brainwashed us into thinking she's this image of perfection." Sirius grumbled.

"She is perfect." Harmony hit him over the head lightly.

"I mean-yeah-of course-" Sirius looked sheepish.

Peter shocked everyone by saying, "Even if she isn't what James believes she is, no one deserves to be treated like that. Poor Lily. She's such a nice girl."

Silence.

"I reckon Pete has a bit of a fancy." Sirius said, and Harmony hit him while Peter blushed.

"That was very kind of you. You're adorable, Peter." Harmony stood up and kissed his warm cheek, which made him blush more.

"Hey!" Sirius whined.

"Let's go, Pup. You and I are going for a walk." Harmony said and she pulled Sirius out of the dorm after he had time to grab a sweatshirt off the floor. It looked like it belonged to James.

Before they could leave, Harmony muttered a quick excuse and ran up to the her own dorm. She slipped in, unknowing to her mates who were comforting Lily, and grabbed the photo out of the potion from earlier. She caught sight of picture-Liven's concerned face whispering reassurances to picture-Lily before the photo disappeared in Harmony's pocket.

Sirius and Harmony walked in a comfortable silence through the portrait hole and down a couple of corridors, only running into a few students milling about before dinner.

Finally, Harmony asked. "Are you hungry? Would you mind missing dinner?" Harmony asked.

"No, that hangover potion vanishes my appetite." Sirius told her.

"Good, because the smell of food would probably make me vomit." Harmony sighed, relived. "We're going to pay Miss Petunia Evans and her husband-to-be a visit, I think."

Sirius smiled. "What an excellent plan, love."

The two teens snuck through the school, their destination the one-eyed witch's passageway to Hogsmeade.

Footsteps approached down the opposite end of the empty hall, just one corridor away from the passageway out to Hogsmeade.

Harmony panicked, but Sirius had already grabbed her and shoved her through a hole in the wall behind a tapestry. Harmony was very aware of Sirius' hands on her back, his breathing in sync with hers, tickling her cheekbone.

The footsteps halted suspiciously for a moment then passed slowly, but neither Harmony nor Sirius moved. A heavy silence broke out, and Harmony boldly took made the first move by slipping her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders.

"This is cozy." Sirius muttered leaning in, and Harmony's heart picked up beat, cursing herself for blushing furiously.

Sirius suddenly pressed his lips against Harmony's for a brief, beautiful second, and pulled away. "Petunia." He reminded them.

Harmony scrunched her face up. "Way to kill a moment."

They both laughed and stumbled out of the passageway.

Then Harmony felt eyes on her. Her smile faded as she whipped around and saw the tail end of a cloak swishing out of sight around the corner.

"Sirius," He brought his attention to her. "There was someone there."

An unspoken agreement passed between them, and they both turned and bolted as quietly as they could for the corridor over.

Harmony turned and scanned the corridor while Sirius opened the passageway behind the one-eyed witch.

They slipped silently through the opening after a moment. Well, silently until-

"Wholy _shit! _Would you take a look at the size of that fucking spider?" Harmony screamed, jumping away from the tunnel wall where a rather hairy and juicy looking spider sat contentedly in its web, pondering Sirius and Harmony; almost sizing them up and calculating how much web it would take to capture them both.

"You're afraid of _spiders_?" Sirius laughed.

"It's not funny! I hate it! I feel like a stereotypical girl," Harmony said angrily. "But that one is a land-whale."

"Just move along. It won't kill you." Sirius gave Harmony a little push on the back to get her going down the passageway again, glancing back towards the sealed entrance and wondering if anyone had heard them.

"It's bloody disgusting!" Harmony whined, refusing to pass by the web.

"Harmony Sea," Sirius started. "Out of all the bloody things in this world, you're scared of a _spider_?"

"It's a deep-rooted fear!" She protested. "Sirius. Please just kill it."

"I can't. It looks pregnant."

"It looks pregnant so you won't kill it?" Harmony asked, eye brows raised.

"Kill all those innocent babies?" Sirius said.

"It's a spider! And there's like a million of those little devils in there! Do you see how big its arse is?" Harmony countered, somewhat hysterically.

_"Fine!"_ Sirius pulled off his trainer, approached the spider, and in one quick motion ended it's pregnancy and future. "That poor thing. I'm going to hell."

_"It's a spider, not a human."_ Harmony told him exasperatedly.

"So if you were pregnant with hundreds of babies right now, and you were in my way, should I kill you?" Sirius smirked, crossing his arms.

"Depends. Who's babies are we talking about, here?"

"James'."

"Kill me."

"Remus'?"

"Mm, Remus is a cutie, but nope, I would still wish death upon myself."

"Mine?"

"I think I'd book a dinner date with Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Thanks!" Sirius said sarcastically as he stuck his lip out and mock-pouted.

Harmony kissed his cheek and pulled away from him. "Danger's gone. Let's carry on, now." She patted his bum to get him going again.

"Hey-!" He started to protest.

"Listen. I have a plan." Harmony told him seriously. "You and I are going to have a little chat with Lily's sister because she's a prick. Then, I have this photo of Lily's reaction to her sister's letter, which I can't even look at because it's too heartbreaking. And after _that_, we can throw in a couple threats, and we will return back to Hogwarts without Lily ever knowing."

"Can we go get pumpkin fizz after? Pumpkin fizz always makes me feel better when I have a hangover." Sirius asked childishly.

"Yes, we can get pumpkin fizz." Harmony laughed.

"Okay, then it sounds like a good plan." Sirius smiled at Harmony, and she smiled back.

And it definitely would have been a good plan, if the teens didn't emerge from Honeydukes only to realize that some fifteen Death Eaters were waiting outside the shop.

"_Shit_." Harmony breathed, her heart beat lurching into brink-of-heart-attack mode.

Sirius slid a hand across Harmony's hip and around to her back. "Oh _shit_. Bloody _hell-"_

"Sirius and the little mudblood, Sea. How _touching_." A deep-voiced member taunted.

"You just _shut it-_" Sirius started, stabbing a finger in the direction of the glob of dark cloaks and masks.

"Sirius." Harmony said sternly, causing him to back down immediately.

"She's got you trained well, if I do say so myself." Bellatrix Lestrange cut in, her voice shrill and laced with amusement. Harmony took one glance at her massive amount of dark curly hair and her facial expression remaining one of insanity. The real life Bellatrix Lestrange was even more horrible than her dream-Bellatrix Lestrange. Harmony started to shake.

"Can I help you with something?" Harmony said through gritted teeth.

"I think you're well aware what we would like." Bellatrix fingered her wand, black eyes flashing.

"Well, I'd actually like a reminder." Harmony countered, desperately trying to buy some time so her and Sirius could think of a plan.

What was the use? They weren't getting out of this sticky web.

"Stop playing games, girl, and come with us quietly." A silky voice snapped. "Master informed us this was to be a quiet capture."

"And quiet it will be." A soft voice murmured back. It was almost a warning.

While the Death Eaters were busy chatting back and forth, Harmony was suddenly struck with an idea.

They were in _Hogsmeade_. They could _apparate_. Oh gosh, why didn't they think of this sooner?

The masked Death Eaters continued to chit-chat (they were all quiet dumb) while Harmony turned to Sirius. With shaking hands, she pretended to pull a fleck of dust out of his mop of gorgeous black hair.

"Disapparate us." She breathed. "I would but I don't know where to-"

"What's that?" Bellatrix said, quick as a whip. "What're you whispering?"

"I didn't say a word." Harmony lied smoothly, desperately willing her unsteady hands to stop shaking in fear and anxiety.

"Don't lie." Bellatrix hissed, moving away from the clump of black cloaked Death Eaters and towards the two teens practically pressed against the decorated glass of the Honeydukes shop. "I know where you live, your family, your friends, your friends' family. I know it all, Harmony Sea, and don't think for a second I wouldn't hesitate in killing the lot of them."

"I-I-" Harmony stuttered, waves of fear crashing over her. Thankfully, Sirius must have caught onto the message from Harmony before because he chose that moment to grip Harmony's hand.

"Lovely chat, cuz, but we've got previous engagements." Sirius cut in. "Oh, and that hair style, Bella, is truly a work of art. When was the last time it encountered a comb? And more importantly, did your boyfriend Voldy like it or what?"

He cackled, and a vein started to throb in Bellatrix's forehead from fury. Before she could do anything, Sirius had turned on the spot with Harmony and they were being squeezed through the tight, airless tube of apparation.

Sirius landed unstably on his feet, and used a stone wall to keep his balance. Harmony, however, landed much more ungracefully with her long dark mass of curly hair flying everywhere and her trainer falling off. "Some-" Harmony gasped for air. "-warning would be nice."

"I'll keep that in mind when we're outnumbered almost seven-to-one by Death Eaters next time." Sirius muttered sarcastically.

"Bloody hell, Sirius, thank you." Harmony threw her arms around his broad shoulders, and he slipped his around her back.

She pulled back, still shaken up. "Where are we?"

"Ministry," Sirius replied. "I reckon we tell them Death Eaters are in Hogsmeade, and I think we should see about your parents and sister staying in a different home for a little while until the Death Eaters calm down from this encounter."

"Good idea. Ryan will be pleased. He told me he didn't want them living there while the Death Eaters knew where we live." Harmony informed Sirius as he entered a small telephone booth.

Despite the moment, Harmony watched in admiration at Sirius' beauty. It wasn't the first time she admired it, and it wouldn't be the last.

His dark, shiny hair fell in perfect waves into his stormy grey eyes framed by thick long lashes that easily could have belonged to any female. Harmony's eyes wondered down his concentrated face; dark eyebrows furrowed, sculpted cheekbones and kiss-worthy jawline, and those soft, pink lips that have shared so many kisses with Harmony's own.

Ugh, how did she end up with someone so damn perfect?

Harmony watched as Sirius hurriedly dialled 6-2-4-4-2 on the little telephone, his shoulder blades moving under his shirt with every move of his arm; his tense muscles flexing unintentionally. She was so dazed that she didn't even stop to think about how in the world Sirius knew the code to type in.

Harmony just stared at Sirius as he spoke quickly to the cool-voiced operator, mesmerized by his beauty.

Then suddenly, a pair of grey eyes were looking back at her. She blushed furiously and looked away, realizing that the phone booth was slowly sinking into the ground.

Harmony felt Sirius' fingers curl underneath her chin, pulling her attention back to him. "Do I have food on my face?" He chuckled softly, pulling Harmony closer to him, his grey eyes sparkling despite the serious situation.

Harmony laughed weakly, suddenly feeling self-conscious. This boy was too beautiful; and there she was all plain and not beautiful. How could she compare to him? That was why all the girls whispered in the halls. It was just Sirius Black and that unattractive Harmony Sea girl.

"What's wrong?" He whispered, making goosebumps erupt on her skin where his breath tickled her.

She looked up at him quickly, then back down. What was wrong with her? Shit, Harmony may as well start wearing low-cut tight shirts like Tianna, since she was sure thinking like her.

"Nothing." Harmony told him, but added on, "You're really beautiful, you know that?" She blushed scarlet and looked away. _Nice, Harmony. How smooth and mature_. Light was coming from the bottom of the box as they descended into the brightly-lit ministry.

Sirius only got to kiss Harmony's nose. He was forced to step away from her before they got charged for some PDA law.

An unspoken agreement passed between them as they grabbed each other's hands and bolted out of the warm telephone booth, following the signs to the Head Auror Office and completely disregarding the official-looking badges the phone booth spit out at them earlier.

"Sir-" a ministry official shouted after them as they ran right by the wand-examiner's desk.

Sirius navigated his way while Harmony followed on his heels. Finally, they entered a long, bright hallway where a dozen doors stood with various names written on them. Some were ajar, revealing WANTED posters with the brutal faces of Death Eaters.

"Head office or what?" Harmony panted.

"Yeah," Sirius strode to the end of the hall and barged in the office titled HEAD AUROR on the door in gold block letters.

Harmony gazed in shock at the scene before her, Sirius struggling with a similar reaction.

"Fuck," a slimy-looking man with black hair and dark, small eyes who was probably in his mid-fifties muttered, the woman on his lap removing her hands from him and sliding off. She smirked at the teens in the doorway as she buttoned up her tight blouse.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Are you the head auror?"

The man wasn't listening. He was looking at the young brunette. "We'll speak more of your promotion tomorrow. Good night."

Harmony couldn't contain herself. She looked at the smug brunette a she fixed her hair and gathered some papers off the desk. "What happened to talent for promotions?"

The brunette looked stunned at Harmony's bluntness for a second. "What happened to beauty for hanging around with boys like _that_?" She jerked her head in Sirius' direction, sending him a bleach-toothed smile.

"Depends on what you consider beauty." Sirius said smoothly. "If you consider yourself beautiful, than you are way off on your perspective."

She looked offended but still didn't stop throwing herself at Sirius. "You're hilarious! How about you ditch the loser and we go out for a drink sometime, love?"

Harmony completely forgot about the Death Eaters for a moment a she became slightly nauseous watching this brunette with her big boobs make moves on Sirius.

"How about no." Sirius said coldly, pulling Harmony close. "We have important matters to discuss with this man here, and they're extremely urgent. Please leave because you're gross and unimportant."

Harmony smiled slightly and resisted the urge to kiss Sirius as the lady swiftly exited the office with an angry grunt.

"How can I help you?" The man asked.

Like Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology, it suddenly felt like the weight of the world crashed down on Harmony. Her stomach went in knots. They had wasted so much time. "Sir - Death Eaters. Loads of them. In Hogsmeade. I think they've probably left, and I have a feeling they're going for my family as we speak because we apparated out of there and they wanted to take me somewhere." Harmony burst in one breath.

"What-" The man started. Harmony read his name plate on his desk. It was printed in the same gold letters as the words on the door. "That's impossible. Why on Earth would a load of Death Eaters want a random teenage girl?" Harold Parker asked.

"A prophecy was made about her, and I really don't have time to explain it right now. Please sir, I'm begging you, just send a couple aurors to get her family away from her house. Her parents are muggles and she has a six-year old sister who is a witch." Sirius pleaded urgently.

"Ah, a muggleborn, eh? And please, I can see through all that prophecy bullshit." Harold leaned back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head.

"Mr. Parker! I swear we are not lying. Floo Professor Dumbledore! We're sixth-years at Hogwarts!" Harmony cut in, her hands starting to shake. After all that, he had to believe them. He _had_ to.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing at, but my aurors will not participate in it. You may leave." Harold fluttered his fingers in a _run along _gesture

Harmony lost it. "Now you listen to me right now, Harold Parker." She slammed her hands down on the desk, spilling a glass of some liquid strongly smelling like alcohol. "I have been dealing with these Death Eaters for months now. How do you think it feels to find out that suddenly Lord fucking Voldemort is after me because some prophecy was made that I will kill most of his army one day? How do you think it feels when I think I'm having a normal day and BAM they show up and all hell breaks loose? How do you think it feels to find out that they tried to attack my defenceless family? How do you think it feels to lose massive amounts of sleep due to horrific nightmares of Bellatrix Lestrange torturing my six-year old sister every fucking night? Or my best friends? Or the other half of my constellation? Let me tell you from first hand experience that it is not a walk in the park, you git. So go assemble a fucking group of aurors right now and get my family the _fuck_ away from that house before I go do it for you."

Harold surveyed Harmony for a moment, taking in her mass of dark curly hair to her wild eyes. "Very well. Your name?"

"Sea. Harmony Sea." Harmony was still panting a little bit, and Sirius pulled her shaking frame to his side more tightly, stroking her hair lightly, his eyes alert.

Harold left the room. "You're nightmares are still bad?" Sirius whispered.

Harmony exhaled and nodded a little, finding comfort in Sirius' familiar scent. "I went trough a period where they weren't so bad. Well it only lasted about four days. I've learned to control them, so I don't have anymore episodes like that other time."

"Shit, Harms. You should wake me when it happens." Sirius said worriedly. Then he tacked on quietly, "You have nightmares about me, too?"

"Unfortunately."

"I'm sorry." Sirius said genuinely, and Harold walked back in.

"They are going now. I've sent five."

"They'll be outnumbered three to one, but I appreciate your efforts." Harmony managed to choke out.

"I suggest you Floo back into Hogwarts. I will inform your headmaster immediately."

"No, I need to stay here in case something happens. I need to know." Harmony said.

"I'm staying, too." Sirius informed them.

"Fine." Harold sensed that there was no arguing with these two teens when they had their mind up.

Harmony and Sirius plopped down on the leather couch on the opposite side of the office. Harmony started to tremble, and Sirius laced his fingers through hers, resting their entwined hands on her thigh. "Shh," he whispered. "They will be fine." Harmony used her other hand to fiddle with the leather bracelet around Sirius' wrist which was a birthday present from Harmony given to him the night before while they were both drunk and blissfully unaware of the events that would take place the day ahead.

"You reckon?" Harmony breathed.

"Yeah," Sirius breathed back.

"I sure as hell hope so. I don't know what I'm going to do if they're not, Sirius, I really don't." Harmony started panicking, all her nightmares flashing through her mind at lightning speed. She bit her lip, drawing blood.

"It's okay, Harmony. It's going to be okay. I'm here for you." Sirius told her.

"And I'm thankful for that." Harmony said sincerely, smiling a little bit, forcing her overactive imagination to quit creating 1000 ways to die featuring Death Eaters in her head. "Sirius, what I would like to know is how the Death Eaters knew we were going to be in Hogsmeade." Harmony whispered so Harold Parker couldn't hear.

Sirius' gorgeous eyes flashed to Harmony's for a second. "You don't reckon-"

"-that our little stalker is feeding information to Voldemort? Yeah, I do." Harmony breathed back.

A conversation passed between the teens with their eyes. This stalker needed to be discovered.

They waited for another twenty minutes in complete, anxious silence. All of the sudden, a man burst in the room, a cut dripping scarlet beads of blood down his forehead. He was dressed in auror robes; dark blue material, an official Ministry of Magic Badge attached to the front, and combat boots with his wand holder secured around his waist. "Arrived when we did. Little girl got hurt, everyone is at St. Mungo's now. Managed to get the family out, lots of-of..." The man fainted, the blood pouring out of his wound at now a heavy flow.

"Damn," Mr. Parker muttered, grabbing the man. "Mungo's." he shot over his shoulder at Sirius and Harmony, then he disapparated on the spot with the other auror.

"Little-little girl is hurt?" Harmony started to shake violently, her stomach dropping, heart pounding. She grasped Sirius' hand and apparated right into the waiting room at the hospital.

"Yes?" The annoyed old lady behind the desk asked irritably when Harmony stumbled over in a state of panic.

"A little girl was hurt and came in about ten minutes ago from a Death Eater attack. Where is she?" Sirius asked, his eyes darting to Harmony.

"What are you, friends of the family? You don't look much like the little girl." The lady leaned back and pursed her raspberry stained lips.

"I'm her sister, now where is she?" Harmony screeched.

"Straight down the hall, to the left, and it's the second door on your right." The nurse snapped.

Harmony bolted, Sirius following pursuit. Bursting into the hospital room, the teens discovered two adults surrounding a bed.

Sirius stood back as Harmony rushed forward to the little girl perched on the bed. "Charlotte?"

"Harmony!" The girl squealed. Her head was heavily bandaged, the wound leaking scarlet blood underneath. Sirius saw Harmony's frame relax as she assessed the wound. Not too bad.

"Yes, oh I've missed you! What happened? Are you two okay?" She addressed her parents while Sirius took them in.

Harmony was a shocking resemblance to her mother; dark brown curly hair, hazel-green eyes, prominent cheekbones, and there was something in the way they stood that was so alike. Her father, on the other hand also passed some genes onto Harmony - same thick eyelashes, nose and smile.

No one was smiling at that moment, though. "They just started appearing, then the good lot came, and everyone was fighting, and someone got Char in the head." Harmony's mother said tearfully.

"But I'm fine now, Harms." Charlotte quipped. Sirius slid his eyes over to Charlotte and was shocked. She looked so similar to Harmony, yet so different. They had the same wild curls, same lips, same cheeks, same eyelashes. But Charlotte...there was something so odd about her. An old soul in a young body. She was a beautiful child, her eyes large, crystal clear and blue, her body so petite and dainty, her round cheeks accented by a rosy blush. Charlotte's eyes met Sirius' and she cocked her head ever so slightly, taking him in.

Harmony's parents followed their youngest daughter's gaze and their eyes also landed on Sirius. He was suddenly very aware that he was in plaid pyjama bottoms.

Harmony picked up on the oncoming awkwardness. "Mum, Dad, this is Sirius Black." Sirius noted how she didn't include their current relationship status. Harmony Sea; the girl who was scared of spiders and her parents.

"Pleasure," Sirius stepped forward and shook Harmony's father's hand, which was firm and sincere. Sirius turned, nodded and smiled weakly at Harmony's mother.

"Are you a friend from school?" Harmony's mother asked, her eyes curious.

"Yes." Harmony jumped in.

Sirius cracked a smile at Harmony's discomfort and replied, "Yes, ma'm."

"Please, call me Adrianne, dear." Adrianne smiled kindly.

"And me Jack." Harmony's father was still surveying Sirius with a calculating gaze laced with amusement.

Sirius turned to Harmony's sister, not being able to resist her adorableness. "What shall I call you?"

Her blue eyes concentrated on him steadily for a moment, a little crease appearing in her forehead as she thought. She looked so alike Harmony that Sirius was taken aback. "Just Charlotte, I think."

"Well I'm Just-Sirius, Just-Charlotte." Sirius smiled as the little girl giggled.

Harmony went back over to her little sister's side again. "How do you feel?" Harmony affectionately played with a hair ringlet of her little sister's.

"Peachy." Charlotte replied. "But Harms...who were those scary people? They wanted to hurt us."

Sirius' heart broke a little.

"They're bad guys, Char. But that's why the good guys are giving you another home to live in for a while, so the bad guys don't bug you again." Harmony leaned over and kissed her little sister on her cheek. "But you're safe now, love."

Harmony's tear-filled terrified eyes sought out Sirius', as he was the only one who could comprehend how far away that truth was. It might as well have disappeared when the supernova occurred.

**A/N- Long time no update. My apologies. First was exams, then some issues with my best friend's close friend's depression, I have obtained multiple injuries over the course of a week (horrible full body sunburn and badly sprained toe -we're talking blue-purple-black-green bruised foot and a toe the size of my head)...ah just busy.**

**I won't be updating much in July because I have an overnight camp all next week then I'm going on vacation. So, my lovely, faithful readers, please be forgiving and patient!**

**I made a typo in the last chapter! Sirius' birthday is MARCH 12th, not May! (Yos yos I'm aware it is actually in the fall but it worked for the story in the spring.)**

**Ps- MAN OF STEEL. I've already seen it twice in the cinema and oh man (of steel haha) it is PERFECTION. Clark Kent in that movie when he has the shaggish looking hair is how I picture Sirius to look. Maybe a bit younger and less ya know, muscley. Like EXACTLY the way he looks in the car-hurricane scene. I'm still majorly fangirling. AND OH MY GOSH HENRY CAVILL IS ALSO BRITISH! How much more perfect can this get?!**


	17. Tossers and Train Rides

"Harmony, wake up." Lily's soft voice pulsed through Harmony's brain several times while she fought to stay sleeping blissfully.

"No." Harmony muttered bluntly when Lily's voice continued to assault her.

"What is the matter with you? The train leaves in an hour!" Liven huffed from across the dorm.

"I think she's just tired." Lily countered, pursing her lips and studying Harmony.

"'M trying to sleep!" Harmony lifted her head off the pillow enough to yell this before she let it drop again.

"Yes, but you can sleep on the train, Harms! We need you to help us carry the trunks! The boys are also pitching in...but we're a couple of teenage girls starting March break. Of course we're going to be loaded up on clothing and such." Liven called.

March break. Finally. Only a week had passed since the Sea family was attacked, a horrible letter sent to Lily from her older sister, and the discovery of a Voldemort-minion lurking around, stalking Harmony and Sirius like a cat and prey. Since then, Harmony and Sirius never stayed too long out alone of the common room, and they were extremely cautious of their words.

"Harmony, I'll call James and Sirius in here to wake you up," Becca warned, arms crossed while she loomed over Harmony's bed, a frown on her face.

"Empty threat," Harmony muttered, burrowing deeper into her covers.

"No, it's not." Becca countered.

"I'm in nothing but a bra and pyjama bottoms. Also I'm PMSing, and they won't come within forty feet of me this time of month." Harmony told her smartly, spitting a mouthful of hair out of her mouth with such aggression one might think she had an insect in there.

"I won't tell them. And I don't think Sirius would mind seeing you in a bra." Liven threw in, while she slammed the lid of her trunk closed.

"Screw off." Harmony grunted and she rolled over again, now resembling a cacoon because if her tangled blankets wrapped around her body several times. "The lot of you are tossers."

"Tossers, are we?" Liven asked distractedly, completely immune to Harmony's morning insults.

"Yes, now leave me alone," Harmony ordered, voice muffled. "or I'll call you a tosser for thirty days straight. Your real name will not cross my lips."

Liven ignored her.

"I'll go." Alice sighed and she disappeared to go retrieve fifty percent of the marauders. Or in other words Sirius and James. Remus was too nice to wake Harmony and Peter was just...Peter.

Harmony gathered all the covers around her and rolled herself up even tighter in them, then she proceeded to propel herself off the side of her bed. On the cool floor all wrapped up in blankets, she fell back into a blissful slumber. A blissful slumber that lasted all of three whole minutes.

"Why isn't she up? You can usually handle her." Sirius asked a moment later when him and James entered the dorm on a broomstick. Liven watched as a thought dawned on Sirius. "Unless she's on her you-know-what...?"

"Er-" Liven started, knowing full well that both boys would high-tail it out of there if the answer to Sirius' question was true. "There's a slight possibility-"

"Pfft, she's your problem, mate." James shoved Sirius off the broom and zoomed out of the girls' dorm like the wuss he was.

Sirius groaned partly because he fell hard and partly because of the task at hand. He pulled himself up off the floor reluctantly.

"Are you kidding me?" Lily threw her arms up in frustration. "You just woke up too?"

Sirius looked down at his t-shirt and boxers sheepishly. "Well, it was more like 10 minutes ago, so not exactly _right now-"_

"You both are unbelievable. Just for that I'm not helping you wake the dragon." Lily poked her thumb in Harmony's direction.

Sirius gazed at the bundle of red comforter on the floor. "Why is she on the floor?"

"Are you honestly questioning one of Harmony's bizarre actions?" Lily asked exasperatedly.

"Do you always answer questions with questions?" Sirius snapped, rubbing sleep from his eyes and plotting the least life-threatening way to awake Harmony.

"Do _you_?" Lily retorted.

"Guys!" Liven cut in, "Just wake her already or we'll miss the train."

Sirius glanced at Lily in desperation. "You're on your own, Black." She said, backing away from him with her arms raised in an I'm-having-nothing-to-do-with-this gesture.

"Thanks," he muttered sarcastically. He approached Harmony warily. "Where's her face exactly?"

"I believe it's on the end closest to the wall as she decided to sleep normally in her bed last night." Lily called.

"Harmony," Sirius whispered after locating Harmony's head albeit the seemingly endless amount of blankets. "Harmony, wake up."

"It'll take more than that, sweetie." Liven laughed from her perched position on her overstuffed trunk. This ought to be a good show; all she needed was popcorn and a pumpkin juice.

Sirius looked pointedly up at the wall and hissed through gritted teeth. "Do _you_ want to come over and do this?"

"Hell no." Liven grinned widely.

"Then shut it," Sirius said, his attention back on Harmony. "Harmony."

Nothing.

"Harmony!"

Still not a sound.

"HARMONY!"

A little stirring but her eyes remained closed.

"_HARMONY!" _Sirius shouted.

"Shut it," Harmony mumbled, burrowing deeper into her covers.

"Harmony you have to get up now! A giant spider is crawling on your covers! AND IT'S PREGNANT!" Sirius hollered, while crouching down by Harmony.

Well, that got the desired reaction.

"_WHAT?!"_ Harmony launched out of the covers. She stood panting, terrified and entirely confused for a second before she clued in to what was going on.

Sirius took in the sight of her long locks of curly hair tangled and sticking up all over the place. Was it bad that he still found her bed head attractive?

Then his eyes caught sight of the fact that she was in nothing but a black bra and striped pyjama pants.

Unfortunately Harmony also realized this, as Sirius willed his eyes _not_ to admire how perfect that bra was on her. "Fuck!" She screamed and launched herself back under the blankets, shielding her almost bare upper half from the eyes of Sirius Black.

"Liven, I am going to murder you in your sleep." Harmony threatened, practically eating her pillow.

Too bad Liven was busy wetting her pants with laughter to respond. She had the whole roll-on-the-ground-laughing thing going, too.

Sirius slowly started to realize that he just saw Harmony in a bra. A slow and stupid smile spread over his face.

"Sirius Black you wipe that grin off your face or I might have to slap it off." Harmony hissed, her face flooding with colour as she lifted it from the pillow.

"That requires you standing up again..." Sirius pondered, then grinned even wider. "Yep, I'd love to be slapped right now." His eyes focused back on her.

Harmony sighed. "Leave," she told him. "Go get dressed you git."

"Yes ma'am." Acting true to his animagus, Sirius put his head down shamefully and walked out of the dorm, his imaginary tail between his legs. A second later Harmony heard a loud curse word, a bump, and the screeching sound of skin on a slide.

"You deserved that!" Harmony yelled.

No reply. Just a lot of curses.

* * *

Harmony watched the rain drops slide across the cold window as the train started to move faster, steam billowing everywhere. "Where are the marauders?" she asked Liven.

"Good question. I thought you'd know?" Liven raised her perfect eyebrows, dark hair shining despite the lack of light.

"Nope." Harmony turned away from the unfair, natural beauty of her best friend. Rubbing her arms to keep them warm, she looked back out the window. Sometimes silence was nice. Sometimes mainly means on mornings she was woken up. So, almost every morning silence was good. Silence with coffee. _Coffee_. What she wouldn't do for one of those.

The door to the compartment slid open, and Harmony watched as the marauders filed in. Sirius immediately took the seat next to Harmony as the others struck up an animated conversation.

He took in the dark circles under Harmony's eyes, Sirius' old jumper and sweatpants she wore. He tried to keep the burst of affection out of his voice as he asked, "What's the matter, love?"

"Just tired," an image of Bellatrix Lestrange looking upon the dead body of Becca flashed in her mind. "and pissy. And in need of a coffee. Not a good combination." Harmony started distractedly cracking her knuckles while gazing out the rain-streaked window again.

Sirius reached his other hand around and handed her a steaming mug of coffee. Harmony looked blankly from his tousled hair and sympathetic eyes to the coffee a couple times before she grabbed it and set it down beside her on the window ledge. She then proceeded to attack Sirius in a bear hug.

"You're fantastic." She muttered in his shoulder.

"Oi, get a room!" James yelled, turning the attention on Sirius and Harmony.

Harmony shot him the finger. "Shut your trap, Potter."

"Don't piss off the PMSing tiger, Jamesy-poo." Liven sung, sitting back in her seat, looking like she was preparing for a good show.

Unfortunately for Liven, James backed down immediately and Harmony cracked up, feeling instantly better. She gave Sirius a kiss on the jaw and sat up, her eyes already on the coffee prize.

"Got any plans for the March break?" He asked, watching as she downed half the mug in one go.

"Nah, but I reckon Becca and I will spend most of it together." She replied, leaning against Sirius and curling up in the seat like a cat, her body still partially wrapped protectively around the mug.

"Hey Harmful, have you ever snuck out?" a slow grin spread over his face as he said this. No one was paying attention to them now since a game of exploding snap started up and multiple conversations were continued.

"To meet Becca, loads of times..." Harmony replied.

Sirius intertwined his fingers with Harmony's and rested them on her knee. "Well, wouldn't it be the ultimate experience to sneak out to meet a _boy?"_

Harmony blushed. "Are you implying-"

"Yeah." Sirius grinned. "It'll be fun."

"Sirius Black, you ought to be the death of me."

"How about this," Sirius said, turning his body towards Harmony's, excitement in his eyes. "I'll come to yours, obviously, and I can come get you at your window."

"No," Harmony sighed. "My Dad, don't ask me why, has muggle video cameras all over the place. I tried explaining to him that we live in the middle of no where and the chances of ever needing a security camera are very, very slim...but he's determined to have video surveillance 24/7."

Sirius laughed out loud. "How have you gotten away with it before?"

Harmony smiled mischievously. "Trial and error. Knowledge of the camera placements and views."

"You are such a little badass," Sirius grinned affectionately, "and I like it a lot."

"Why, thank you, Black." Harmony laughed, looking up at him.

He kissed her nose. "So, will I just have to meet you?"

"Yeah, wait across the street from my house in the bush. My dad goes to bed around eleven, usually. I always had to wait longer for Becca because her Dad stays up until one."

"You guys have this all figured out. Where do you go?"

"Meh, anywhere. We always end up in the forest, the one right next to my house?" Harmony broke off and Sirius nodded, remembering from the time he dropped her off for the Christmas break. "Yeah, and in there we have a whole whack load of spots to stay."

Sirius was enjoying the way Harmony's eyes lit up when she talked. And he was genuinely interested. It felt like they were the only people in the world in that moment. "Like what?"

"There's this clearing that is just _perfect_ for star gazing, and then we have this tree which I love I climb and read in. There's also this old tree house we discovered which is actually pretty big, and that's where we usually get hammered." Harmony grinned at the memories of the long nights spent there.

Sirius raised his eyebrows and laughed. "You guys-?"

"Yup," Harmony smiled. "My dad doesn't hide the alcohol. It's so easily accessed through the refrigerator in the garage. When I turn 17, I'll be able to just make it appear without all the trouble of sneaking about and clinking bottles."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"That's what Becca said, and I kind of agree. It gives me adrenaline when I do things I shouldn't."

"That's not healthy, Harmony Sea." Sirius smiled and started playing with Harmony's fingers absent-mindedly.

"I know. But I just can't stop." Harmony said. "And besides, I quite enjoy the fact that the majority of the people who 'know' me think that I'm just the quiet, innocent bookworm."

Sirius' eyes slid out the window, surprised to see that it was now sunny. "You are the quiet bookworm...but you just have a really, really rebellious streak in you, and a love for fire. Not," Sirius finished, "a good combination."

"That's very true. Although, I wasn't quite _so_ rebellious before I met you. Sure, I was very bad sometimes, but that's just it. It was sometimes. And now, Mr. Black," Harmony cast her twinkling eyes upward at Sirius. "it's prominent _all_ the time."

Sirius leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth.

"OI, AGAIN! Get. A. Room!" James shouted, and Harmony broke away from Sirius, blushing scarlet to her roots.

"Shut _up_, James!" Lily hissed. "She doesn't look like she could kill a small country anymore. She looks...happy?"

Everyone stared at Harmony. "Stop looking at me like an animal."

"But, this is the first time _ever_ that you've been happy-looking when you're on your-" Becca stared in amazement.

"HOW ABOUT WE DON'T TALK ANYMORE ABOUT MY FEMALE ORGANS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." Harmony screeched.

"Well," Liven said finally, "it was nice while it lasted."

Remus snorted, then quickly buried himself in his book once again. "You prats." Harmony sighed. "I have to use the loo."

She stood and slid the door open, almost losing her balance because of the train's movement. She swore and caught herself on the door.

The second she stepped out a nearby compartment door slammed shut, the hem of a cloak disappearing rapidly. Harmony stared around in amazement, shocked at the sudden noise. Everything was calm now; there was no way of knowing which door shut the most recently.

Harmony backed into her own compartment again, eyes glued to the view beyond the door. A familiar arm was around her waist in an instant. "What's happened?" Sirius whispered.

"That little fucking spy, that's what." Harmony said through her teeth.

Sirius' eyes widened for a fraction of a second. "The one time we talk about a semi-private thing in a semi-private place we get fucking spied on. Of course."

"It's fine. They're gone. Let's just enjoy ourselves as much as possible right now, okay?" Harmony whispered urgently, willing him to act normal-ish lest the others look up.

"Okay," Sirius muttered, pulling Harmony down with him on the seat.

"Sirius," Harmony yawned. Clearly there was going to be no bathroom break, but it wasn't massively urgent anyway.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind if I took a nap...?" Harmony blushed for some reason unknown to her.

Sirius laughed. "Yes, go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you when we arrive."

"Thanks, pup." She leaned into him and cuddled up to his side, basking in his body heat. March was still a pretty cold month.

He kissed her atop the head as she quickly fell asleep. Her last thought was how good the day had actually been so far, well mainly just because of Sirius, despite the conditions.

* * *

"Harms," a soft voice interrupted Harmony's slumber for the second time that day.

"I don't appreciate getting woken up twice within the same 24-hour time span." Harmony bit, eyes still closed.

"But we're just arriving at the station." Sirius told her gently. He watched her open her eyes slowly, as she sat up. There were lines from his Quidditch jumper that he had chose to wear across her face. He reached out and traced them softly, her cheekbone warm and soft under his fingers.

Harmony reached up and patted her hair, cringed when she felt the tangles and curls flying all over the place, and leaned back on the seat again.

She felt a hand on her head and looked up to see Liven. "Bye, love. I've got to leave fast or my dad'll flip."

Harmony stood up and hugged her best friend. "I'll see you over break?"

"Is that even a question?" Liven flashed Harmony a grin and left the compartment soon after all the hugs and goodbye's were exchanged with her.

Sirius grabbed Harmony's bag along with his own and the two followed their noisy group of friends out off the train. Riding the massive wave of students in the small hall, Harmony took hold of Sirius' jumper.

"Talk about rush," Harmony commented once they were off.

"Oh, I agree." Lily replied. "It's like the last call for Quidditch tryouts."

James stopped what he was doing and looked over at Lily, his mouth agape and eyes full of affection. "Lily Evans just referred to Quidditch."

Lily blushed and looked into the crowd, suddenly entirely focused on finding her parents.

Harmony burst out laughing and hugged her friend. "What would I do without the James-Lily situation? I swear, it's constant entertainment."

"You should see him when she's _not_ around!" Sirius laughed. "He's either mopey or constantly talking about how good she looked in that kilt-"

James cut him off by completely tackling Sirius to the ground.

"Boys," Alice piped in, coming up behind the group.

"And where were you?" Becca questioned, already knowing the answer.

"Erm-"

"She was off snogging Frank in some empty compartment, that's what." Harmony giggled, her arms still around Lily.

"All _right_!" Remus shouted, prying James and Sirius apart. Neither of them were injured, they just looked a little scuffed up. James' glasses were askew, dangling off his nose adorably while he grinned like a kid.

Harmony detangled herself from Lily and retrieved her bag from its place on the dusty floor where Sirius had dropped it. For the first time she realized how many people were crowded in the little platform by the magnificent red Hogwarts train. Families were shouting out to their children, an owl was flying around, frantically screeching its head off, and there were kids reciting every detail from the Christmas break to the March break rapidly while mothers attempted to pull them along.

"I'll be off. Tuney is glaring at me so much it's burning my skin." Lily sighed sadly. She hugged everyone - even James, albeit awkwardly - and scurried off.

"I reckon I'd better get going, too." Remus said. And the process repeated.

And repeated again for Peter. Then Becca.

James shouted out moments later. "I see Mum and Dad! Meet me there in a minute, yeah?" James said the last part to Sirius, and then gave Harmony a hug. "See you, Harmful. Perhaps over the break, who knows!"

"Bye!" James was off.

Sirius turned to Harmony. "Best be getting off."

"Yeah," Harmony smiled, looking up at Sirius' handsome face.

"What day do you think?" Sirius asked, his arms fastening around Harmony's waist.

"How about Wednesday night?" Harmony suggested, resting her head on Sirius' chest. The pain potion was wearing off.

"Sure," Sirius replied, his chest rumbling with every word. "I think that'll work."

Harmony suddenly looked up at him. "Is it crazy that I'm already missing you? And it's only March break and I'm going to see you Wednesday and-"

Sirius just leaned down and kissed her. A good kiss. A kiss that if performed in the common room would receive whistles and shouts.

She slipped her arms around his neck as Sirius pulled a hand up to rest on her cheek.

Harmony pulled back and said, "My father can probably see us, you realize."

"Your family is a little ways back. They didn't see you when I kissed you, but I reckon they've spotted us now." Sirius kept his face really close to Harmony's the entire time he spoke.

"Shit," Harmony muttered. "Maybe if we don't move then they won't see us?"

"They're not dinosaurs, Harmony."

Harmony burst out laughing and hugged Sirius tight. He hugged her back for a moment. "I better get going, as much as I'd like to snog you and hug you all day."

Harmony blushed and hit him lightly. "You're such a male."

"Why, thank you." Sirius grinned and picked up her bag, slinging it on her shoulder after handing it to her. "I try."

"Get out of here, you prat." Harmony laughed, pushing him away.

"Yeah, yeah." Sirius watched as Harmony walked away, having already located her parents.

"Mum, Dad!" Harmony smiled as she approached her family. "Alright?"

"That was quite the-" her Dad started.

"Charlotte!" Harmony screeched too loudly, cutting her father off. "It's been a week!"

Charlotte giggled as she hugged her sister back, in a scramble of curls and limbs.

Ryan stomped over. "Mum, Dad."

"What's got your knickers in a knot?" Harmony snickered.

"Shut it." Ryan hissed.

"What, girlfriend didn't give you a kiss goodbye?"

"At least I did't get practically shagged-"

Harmony stood up and shoved her brother. Easier said than done. He was taller and stronger than her, even at fourteen. He pushed Harmony right back.

"You're such a moody little prick! No wonder why I don't spend time with you!" Harmony shot daggers at her brother with her eyes. He glared right back, his dark curly hair a mess atop his head and his clothes rumbled slightly.

"You have been in each other's company for _ten_ seconds! Cut it _out!" _Harmony's mother snapped tiredly. Those words had been way over-used throughout the years.

Ryan dropped it immediately, and Harmony then had no choice but to follow his lead. After all, fighting with yourself is only fun on Thursdays.

Hand in hand with Charlotte, Harmony left the station, thinking that this break might not be so bad, after all. So as long as Voldy keeps his Death Eaters put away along with that little spy of his.

**A/N- This chapter is rather short, and I apologize for that but this is supposed to be a filler. Good stuff is coming, okay? And as far as the reviews, I will repeat myself in saying that I have no intention of changing the plot line of JK's writing.**

**As far as Harmony and Sirius, I'm happy to hear the feedback about how you think I'm portraying them. Harmony is going a little insane. She's not herself. Death Eaters, school, spies, gossip, war. Sirius is her firm grip. I truly apologize if I wrote something you didn't like! Feel free to come to me about any questions or concerns.**

**Oh, and I'm really sorry you don't like the names of my characters. It's a little late to change them now, so, I guess they'll just have to stay the same. Bummer.**

**Regardless, I hope everyone is having a good summer holiday! Update will be soon.**


	18. Horrors and Hugs

Harmony shoved yet another pin into the innocent bulletin board now entirely plastered with photos.

She hopped off the chair and stood back to admire her work, the music from her radio positively blasted at full volume. She was so immune to the loudness, but always forgot that her family was so _not_.

"Harmony!" her dad yelled. "We're going to _bed_! Shut it off _now!_"

Harmony grumbled, but stalked over and turned the volume dial down.

"_OFF_."

"Fine!" She screeched back. "You're such a party-pooper."

"I'll show you a party pooper." Harmony's dad called back. He had a habit of giving these empty threats that made no sense what so ever.

"Okay," Harmony called, smiling still. She looked around her room proudly.

Four hours before, she had a little spark of an idea and it turned out to be a full-blown re-organization, re-arrange spree for her room.

Now, four hours later, the room looked pretty good. The walls were a deep purple - well, the paint was. She had so many posters of bands, people, just random shots from random places that the wall wasn't visible in many places. Some were wizarding, some weren't. Her blood red curtains hung and knotted, with twinkle lights strung through them. The lights extended across one of two extremely loaded bookcases, and onto a mirror.

The _books_. There were so many books. Books used to hold the door open. Books as a nightstand. Books as paperweights for her crowded little desk shoved in the corner. Books tangled in her sheets on her twin bed. Books, books, books. The entire room had a cosy, homey, magical feel to it.

No wonder she spent so much time in there.

"Goodnight, love." Her mother opened the door slowly, blinking because of all the sudden light that clogged her vision from inside her eldest daughters bedroom.

"Night, Mum." Harmony smiled, jumping up off her bed.

"Fancy a cuppa?" Her mother moved more into the room and looked around. "Wow. I'm impressed. It looks great in here!"

"No, you should get to bed." Harmony said. "And thanks!"

"Well," Harmony's mum focused back on her. "tomorrow I won't see you until later because I'm off to work early. So, I'll see you then." She kissed Harmony's head.

Harmony smiled as her mum left. A moment later the mattress squeaked from down the hall as she climbed into bed.

Harmony's innocent smile turned into a full blown grin.

Tonight was the night she was had planned to sneak out and see Sirius. Only about another hour, and she'd be with him.

To pass time while she waited for her family to fall asleep, she turned the music up the tiniest bit louder and plopped down on her bed. Her family was due to leave the house at the end of the week to live in a safer place until the Death Eaters stopped attacking. The only reason they weren't there now was because it wasn't built yet. Yeah, Harmony wasn't pleased with the ministry. So, she was just going to admire and enjoy her home while she still had it.

There she sat, deep in thought with the music drifting around her room, until the sound of her father's snores were getting steadily louder.

Harmony stood up and grabbed the bag of muggle beer wrapped in a blanket out from under her bed.

She slipped her trainers on and carefully stuffed her bed, making it look like there was a body sleeping under the green covers. Moving silently, like a cat, she slipped across the hall and into the loo she shared with her brother.

Sneaking out was like breathing; she'd done it so many times.

She closed the toilet seat, stood on it, and quietly removed the screen from the window. Harmony dropped the bag out first, the fabric quieting the clinking of bottles. She hopped out next, easily and smoothly.

A grin spread over her face as she reached in the window and grabbed the screen, loosely fastening it back in.

Harmony gripped the bag as she sprinted alongside her pool, to the back gate where the video camera's view was blocked by the large fence encasing her pool. She slipped out the gate and ran across the side of her front lawn, down to the road. She scanned the bushes for a glimpse of Sirius.

No sign of him.

Harmony hid the bag in the bush and craned her neck down the road to see if she could see him.

"I'm impressed, Harmful."

Harmony spun and saw Sirius slip out from a spot behind a small tree, grinning widely, hands in his pockets adorably.

Sirius took in the sight of Harmony; her long hair gushing down her shoulders, Gryffindor jumper, and track pants slung low on her hips. And of course, those signature trainers of hers.

She laughed and hugged him tight, breathing in the scent of his unique cologne, mixed with smell of soap and a bonfire.

Sirius kissed her quickly. "Ready to show me these famous places?"

Harmony laughed, flashing her straight teeth. "Sure. Let's go, pup."

Hand in hand, Sirius carrying the bag of alcohol, Harmony led him in the forest down the road. Her feet took her on instinct to the tree house, half falling apart.

It was made of wood, and it looked like it had been quite grand in its day. Now, the rain and wildlife around it had worn it out.

Harmony climbed the ladder leading up to the little structure; she was careful to avoid the second step from the top, as it was broken.

Sirius followed suit, and gasped when he entered the tree house. It was covered in pictures, words and had blankets, beer bottles, and lanterns scattered all over the floor. It had that it's-going-to-be-a-night-to-remember vibe. He fell in love instantly.

"Like it?" Harmony smiled, then plopped down on the ground.

"Yeah! It's really cool, Harms." Sirius grinned and tried to take everything in.

"Beeeeeeer?" Harmony offered, holding out a cold bottle.

"Cheers," Sirius took it, and set it aside. He leaned forward, curled his fingers under Harmony's chin, and pulled her face to his. He kissed her gently, and the kiss was full of excitement and amazement. It was perfect.

Harmony pulled back after some minutes. "I want to get tipsy, Sirius."

He burst out laughing and opened his eyes, to find a pair of green-brown ones looking back at him. Her eyes were like a forest in the springtime, he decided.

"I'm already a bit tipsy." He told her, as she leaned back and grabbed a bottle for herself.

"On what?" Harmony snorted, popping the cap off her drink.

"You." He tapped her on the nose affectionately.

She turned pink in the face but remarked, "It must have taken you a while to think up that one."

"Nah, it was my natural charm."

"Now that's bullshit if I've ever heard it." She laughed and pecked his lips lightly.

"To..." Sirius lifted his bottle, leaving the toast subject up to Harmony.

"Uh," Harmony thought. "Constellations. To constellations."

Sirius grinned. "To constellations."

They clinked bottles, smiling stupidly, and gulped back the stolen beer.

Four bottles later, they were both on the verge 'tipsy'.

"Harmony, remember that time when you got so wasted that first weekend of school? And you made Remus do the tango? That was fucking hilarious." Sirius started laughing hard.

"_No_, I _don't_ remember. I was hammered, remember?" Harmony chuckled.

"Yeah, that's true. You're great when you're drunk."

"Thanks," Harmony laughed. "This summer we can get completely wasted, but I want to remember tonight, you know?" She looked up at the familiar pictures on the ceiling.

"Yeah, I agree." Sirius sighed, calming down from laughing. "I like this. I like spending time with you like this."

Harmony tore her eyes away from the shot of her and Becca sitting around a bonfire to look at Sirius. He was gazing out the window, muscular arms behind his head.

"I do, too. It's nice to have the privacy; a new environment."

Sirius turned and looked at her, his face startlingly handsome. "Let's go see the stars."

"Okay," Harmony grinned. She shut the lantern off as Sirius grabbed the blanket Harmony brought and slipped down the tree house's ladder.

It was completely dark outside, and Harmony went to step on the broken step. "Shit!" She yelped, when her foot didn't contact the desired wood.

Sirius laughed and called up, "How do you and Becca get out if you're super drunk?"

"We don't. But if we absolutely have to then believe me, it's an _ordeal._ A hilarious one."

Sirius slipped his arms around Harmony's waist and lifted her the rest of the way off the ladder, kissing her cheek repeatedly as she landed in front of him. He was getting a face full of hair from behind but he didn't mind much.

"Sirius," Harmony laughed, and pulled away from him, inhaling the crispness of the cold March air.

"Okay, okay." Sirius smiled.

Harmony guided him for a couple minutes through the forest as they laughed and chatted about everything.

"Here it is," Harmony breathed, dropping Sirius' hand as she made her way into a fairly big clearing.

She looked up, and was blown away by the beauty of the stars; the night was crystal clear, so every single sky-diamond shone brightly.

"Woah," Sirius gasped. "It's beautiful out here."

"I know." Harmony whispered. "I know."

Since Sirius' eyes were still on the breath-taking world above, and he didn't see Harmony approach him. She placed her cool hand on his cheek, rubbing her finger over his cheekbone. "Sirius Black," she whispered. It wasn't a request. It wasn't a question. It wasn't sarcastic or funny. It was just his name. Just his name rolling through her lips like, well, a harmony.

He looked down and smiled at her. She smiled back, her cheekbones illuminated even more than usual in the moonlight.

"You're beautiful." He told her, because in that moment it was hard to think of anything else; it was just them in their own little world under the stars.

"Thank you," she chuckled, her cheeks reddening from the beer and happiness. "Now kiss me."

"If you so desire." Sirius leaned down and kissed her without hesitation. He moved his lips over hers, and she moved hers in perfect sync with his. His hand was tangled in her silky ringlets and hers were holding his face close. Harmony stumbled back, the intensity of the kiss almost overpowering.

She came up for air, eyes still closed, and he kissed down down her cheek to her jaw. She sharply inhaled as his soft lips moved down to her neck. His hands held her waist tightly, and she tilted her head up for him as he continued to kiss her.

It was the most beautiful moment, with the stars twinkling above and Sirius down here, making her feel like she _was_ a star, shining brightly from a place in the night sky.

Somewhere in the process, Harmony backed up to a tree, and was now using it for support, as her knees could no longer support her. She brought his face back up to hers and positively kissed him with everything she had in her.

Sirius gripped her hips so hard he could feel where her bones curved inward. "Blimey," he breathed. "_that_ was a kiss."

"More like a snog, if you ask me." Harmony laughed, and wrapped herself around Sirius. She buried her face in his neck and hugged him hard. He hugged her back, and in that moment she knew what they had were the forevers.

"Lay down with me?" He asked, pulling back and spreading the blanket over the cold ground. She laid down on the blanket and he slid down next to her. Harmony snuggled up to Sirius, and he intertwined their fingers. Their body heat was enough to keep them warm; no need for Sirius to cast a heating spell.

They laid in silence, small actions and stars speaking wonders. Soon, Harmony's eyelids started to droop. She closed them, and fell into a light blissful sleep.

* * *

Sometime later, Harmony was awoken by the crack of a branch. A loud crack. Her eyes shot open, only to find that Sirius was also looking over in the direction of the thick dark trees. "Did you-"

"Yes." His tone was laced with worry, eyebrows furrowed. "We need to leave now. We've been out too long, Harms. I don't know if this was the best idea." He whispered, pulling her up rapidly, eyes still scanning the tree line frantically.

Her heart was beating, even more than when he kissed her. "Okay, how will we-" she stopped speaking.

Something was gleaming in the moonlight, still on the forest floor. She walked over, ignoring Sirius' shouts.

Sirius was pulling her back. "Are you bloody insane?!"

"No! Sirius, it's a watch! Look!"

Sure enough, there was a watch that looked as though it had been dropped accidentally.

"That wasn't there before. That's the path to get here." Sirius said finally.

Harmony looked closer. "No."

"What?"

"No. No. No. No. No." She was backing away, shaking like a leaf.

"What? What's wrong?! Harmony!" Sirius rushed over to her.

Her eyes were wide, staring unblinkingly at the watch. "That's-"

"What?" He looked from her to the watch.

"That's Ryan's. That's my brother's bloody watch."

"W-what?" Sirius asked, taken aback. He regarded Harmony for a moment before turning to look at said watch nestled among the broken branches and fallen leaves.

"Don't you get it? My brother. He's the spy. He's the one who's been ratting us out to-to-" Harmony's eyes filled with tears. "Wholy fuck, Sirius, bloody hell. His bad moods, why he doesn't talk to me-"

Sirius paled. Harmony tried to contain her vomit. This was happening too fast. Too fast.

"He-just-what-" Harmony stuttered. "This, he's working for Voldemort! My own brother!" She gasped, sinking to the ground. "MY FAMILY! WHOLY FUCK SIRIUS HE'S BEEN LIVING WITH US!"

"Shh, we need to beat him back to the house." Sirius gripped Harmony and disapparated to the bushes in front of her house. Harmony was caught off guard for a second, but recovered.

"He's fourteen! How?" Harmony was going into hysterics. "What? NO! WHY THE FUCK DOES IT HAVE TO BE HIM?"

"Harmony! Let's get your family out _now_. Focus." Sirius held her face steadily, looking directly into her teary eyes until she stopped hyperventilating.

"Okay, okay." She took a deep breath. "I just...I should have been there, maybe he-"

"This is _not_ your fault. Don't _ever_ say that again, Harmony Sea." Sirius said sternly, letting go of her face and adjusting his leather jacket around him.

They ran into the house and Harmony woke her parents. She wouldn't tell them - she couldn't. "Mum, Dad, I need you to get up now, come with me. Sirius is waking Charlotte."

"Wha-?" Her dad sat up groggily in bed. "I have to work in a couple hours, Harmony."

"Sweetie, can this please wait?" Her mother asked tiredly, barely opening her eyes. She turned over to her other side and tried to fall back to sleep. They had gotten used to Harmony waking them up in the middle of the night for things - mainly to rant about the most recent book she'd finished at three in the morning.

"NO. GET UP NOW." Harmony said sharply, her stern but shaky tone startling her parents.

"Why-?"

Sirius stalked in, Charlotte still asleep in his arms. "What the hell is he doing here?" Harmony's dad asked, regarding Sirius through sleepy narrowed eyes. It's hard to contain feelings of hatred if one woke up at two in the morning to the face of the boy who snogged their daughter.

"Saving your lives. Harmony," his eyes shifted to her. "apparate to Hogwarts. We're not trusting the Ministry."

"Okay," Harmony gripped her shocked parents' hands and turned on the spot.

There was a bang as the door flew back open to the bedroom. The last thing she saw was the dark and twisted face of Ryan from the doorway as he burst in. His hair was sticking up, leaves in it, and he was in torn night clothing. He shot a spell, but it was a second too late.

They arrived in Hogsmeade, the streets dark and cold and empty. "What-? What the heck is going on? Where are we?" Mrs Sea exclaimed, outraged.

"Hogwarts. Sirius, is Char okay?" Harmony turned to see Sirius and Charlotte.

"Yeah," Sirius confirmed, as Charlotte twisted in his arms, now awake. Her cheeks were flushed from sleep, her shiny dark brown ringlets, identical to Harmony's, stuck up adorably.

"What's happening? Harmony?" Her little voice cut through the night, blue eyes wide.

"We're going to my school, Char. Everything's okay. Mummy and Daddy are here, too."

She turned and looked at Sirius. "Hi,"

"Hello," he said politely. "Now we need to move."

The group scurried as fast as they could up to Hogwarts. They arrived at the big oak double doors and found that they were locked, despite how hard Sirius pulled on the handles.

Harmony knocked, shivering violently. "Here," Sirius set down Charlotte and handed his jacket to Harmony. She slipped it on gratefully, aware of her parents' eyes on them.

McGonagall threw the door open suddenly, breaking everyone out of a trance. Her wand was pointed directly at Harmony's heart. "Harmony, Sirius! What on Earth?" she lowered the wand to her side.

"It's an emergency." Harmony choked out.

"Come in, come in." She gestured and everyone stepped in the entrance hall.

"I presume you would like to see Professor Dumbledore?" McGonagall asked. Her hair was braided down, thrown over one shoulder, hanging down her pink nightgown. If the situation wasn't so serious, Harmony would be weirded out at how _normal_ and human-looking the professor looked.

"Yes, please." Harmony replied, in shock. Sirius rubbed his hand on her back in a comforting gesture.

"There's something seriously wrong, here. What's going on?" Harmony's mother asked.

"I'd like to know that, too." McGonagall agreed.

Sirius looked over to Harmony, who gave him the slightest head shake. "It's uhm, really nothing. We just thought we saw someone...I won't go into detail in front of...not, you know, in front of-" Sirius gestured sideways to little Charlotte and her parents.

"Look at that singy!" Charlotte screeched happily, pointing to the nearest suit of armour. "What's that, Harms?"

"Oh-_uhm_-" Harmony shivered, remembering the time Sirius used them to prank the school at Halloween.

"Yeah, Harms, what are they?" Sirius mused, grinning lightly.

She turned to him, glaring. "You little-"

"Where's Ryan?!" Mrs Sea screeched suddenly. "We forgot Ryan!"

Harmony turned around and shut her eyes tight while Sirius choked out a lie, "Nope, he left right before we did. He's okay. He'll be sleeping away up in his dorm, Mrs Sea." Too bad he couldn't apparate in Hogwarts grounds. Too bad it took more than two minutes to fall asleep. Too bad he was working for the darkest wizard to ever live.

McGonagall reappeared a minute later, towing along a tired-looking Hufflepuff prefect. The poor girl had half her hair falling out of a ponytail, the prefect badge pinned on upside down, and her light blue night gown was badly wrinkled. "Lila will take your family up to the Gryffindor common room. She knows where it is."

Lila perked up immediately. "Hi!" She smiled at Charlotte.

"Did you know that Harmony has sparkling knickers?" Charlotte stepped forward and took Lila's hand.

"Bloody hell," Harmony muttered, covering her face.

Sirius barely contained his smile when Harmony's mother screeched, "You watch your mouth, Harmony Sea!"

Charlotte giggled, and skipped happily away, hand in hand with Lila, Harmony's parents following closely behind, her mother throwing concerned looks over her shoulder, dark brown curls hanging down her back.

"Now, follow." McGonagall said sternly.

Sirius, Harmony and the professor walked swiftly though the dark and empty castle. It was odd for Harmony, for the castle almost seemed _uninviting_, cold even; the contrary to when it was full of students.

"Pumpkin Fizz," McGonagall said, almost irritably. Probably because Dumbledore knew how to pick good passwords and she didn't.

The Headmaster was still wide awake, looking magnificent as ever in midnight blue robes peppered with glitter for stars. "Ah, what a lovely surprise." His office looked the same as ever; odd but enchanting with magical instruments of all kinds, Fawkes the Phoenix regarding the scene from his perch with mild interest, books after books filling shelves.

"Professor," Harmony burst. "we haven't confided in anyone the last few weeks, but Sirius and I have been noticing that-"

"Sit," Dumbledore ordered, and in one swift, elegant movement he was seated calmly behind his own desk, leaving the others to follow his lead.

Harmony plopped down completely ungracefully and leaned forward. "We have a Voldemort spy, following us around, listening to our conversations," she said breathlessly. "and-and-it's-"

"Her brother. Ryan." Sirius finished.

Silence.

"How do you know?" Dumbledore asked finally, electric blue eyes scanning Sirius then moving to Harmony.

"We-we found his watch." Harmony said, trying not to go into specifics. How embarrassing. She was going to have to tell her Headmaster that her and Sirius snuck out to see each other.

"Where, might I ask?"

"Well, you see-" Harmony bit her lip.

Sirius sighed. "We snuck out. To see each other. Harmony has a forest by her house, and we were in this clearing for quite some time. A branch cracked, and we both heard it. Harmony," he gestured to Harmony, who was staring at the floor. "found the watch. She saw it in the middle of the path where we came into the clearing. It definitely wasn't there before. We would've noticed."

"Ah, I see." Dumbledore said lightly, pressing his fingertips together. "Aren't you both under the influence of alcohol?"

"No, not enough to not notice something like that. Believe me, Professor. I am not drunk, and if I was you'd be able to tell." Harmony said sincerely. Two bottles each was _not_ drunk. It was a buzz. Hell, it was hardly that.

"I know, I just needed to confirm. Now, this is the only evidence you have?"

"Yeah-" Sirius started when Harmony said at the same moment, "No."

"Miss Sea?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Harmony?" Sirius asked.

"Ryan's been...angry. He never talks to me anymore. Something's shifted. It's him, the spy. I'm one hundred percent sure. You were already in Hogsmeade," Harmony's eyes looked to Sirius. "but he came through the bedroom door before I left. He tried to shoot a spell but missed us. His face..." Harmony swallowed. "His face was unrecognizable. Twisted. Dark. It's going to haunt me. That wasn't the Ryan I grew up with, the brother I love. _That_ was the face of Voldemort, right there sitting upon Ryan's little fourteen-year old body. It was sick." Harmony whispered. Silence met her. She wiped her eyes. The tears were for her own failure as a big sister, role model, for all the times she yelled at him for being in her room. All the times he tried to strike up a conversation and she ignored him. All the years she'd lived with him; yet she had no clue what his favourite colour was, favourite food, preference in music.

"I'm horrible. I'm absolutely disgusting, and if I'd given two shits, maybe even one fucking shit, then he wouldn't have resorted to Voldemort for praise, care. I just-I'm-" Harmony heaved a sob.

"It's not your fault, Miss Sea." Dumbledore said.

"Yes, it is! I'm supposed to be there for him! I haven't at all! He's barely lived! He's fourteen! Who is monstrous enough to lure a child in and use them like that?"

"Voldemort. That's who." Sirius said sternly. "Now I will not tolerate sitting back and watching you blame yourself for this. You are _not_ the only factor in his life! Don't flatter yourself and convince yourself that because you blew him off a couple times he went running to Voldemort. No, Harmony, it's obviously much bigger than that. You can apologize to people because their loved ones passed away, because their family business is going to the dumps, but you cannot take responsibility for it. You understand me? There's more to this." Sirius shook Harmony gently.

"Mister Black is right." Dumbledore looked mildly impressed. He shifted and the candlelight hitting his beard made the silver shimmer. "Where is Ryan now?"

"I-I don't know." Harmony said, in slight shock.

"I don't think it's wise for your family to go back to the house, so I'll summon their belongings and they can stay here until their newer safe house is fit to live in at the end of the week." Dumbledore stood up gracefully, his cloak swishing behind him as he started to pace. "Why haven't you informed your parents?"

"It would positively destroy them." Harmony said instantly. "I can't-I can't tell them."

"How are you going to explain Ryan's absence?" Sirius asked. "The cat's out of the bag..."

"You are not pretending that everything's fine and dandy, if that's what you're planning on doing." McGonagall spoke up, and Harmony jumped because she forgot about the professor's presence.

"I can't tell them, Professor. Charlotte wouldn't understand," Harmony's voice broke. "and it would tear the family."

"Your family is already missing a member, Harmony. It has been ever since Ryan joined Voldemort. Once you're in, there's no going back. That's how it is with Voldemort. All or nothing, as the muggles say." Dumbledore commented wisely.

"Please, just keep an eye on him. But don't haul him into the Ministry. He's my only brother," Harmony whispered, eyes sincere and brimming with tears, "and he's young. He has his whole life ahead of him and I can never take that away."

"You have to if it means saving lives." Sirius told her firmly.

"No! I can't! Feelings don't just disappear on demand, Sirius! I know your family is fucked up, and apparently so is mine, but I'm positive that if you had a choice you wouldn't throw Reg into Azkaban." Harmony turned to him.

He looked down. "You're right."

She took his hand gently. "I know. I understand it now."

"Love is fucked up." Sirius said, and he sighed.

"The amount of profanities are absolutely unacceptable!" McGonagall burst finally.

"It's very true, though, Minerva." Dumbledore's eyes looked mildly amused. "Love is complicated."

"So, I'll just-just act like I'm peachy?" Harmony asked.

"If that's what you think is best." Dumbledore nodded once, closing his eyes as he did so.

"I do. I...I think he'll turn this around, Ryan, that is." She glanced towards Sirius.

"Reckon we should get to bed?" Sirius asked, then he exclaimed, "Oh, blimey! Professor, can I use Floo powder to let James and his parents know that I'll be staying here the rest of the holidays?"

"I'll take care of that. And your clothing, also. Goodnight, Miss Sea, Mister Black."

They muttered goodnights and left the office. Silence pushed down on the pair as they walked the halls together, following the familiar path to Gryffindor Tower.

Outside the portrait hole, Sirius stopped, ran his fingers down Harmony's back, and turned to her. "Ready to put a happy face on, Harms?"

"No. I want to crawl into my covers right away and I want you there with me and we can hold hands and you'll make me feel a bit better, like you always manage to do." Harmony said childishly.

Sirius wrapped his arms around Harmony, tightly, lifting her back up as her knees gave out and she made to sink to the ground. She hugged him back, falling a little bit harder for him because despite everything, he was still beside her, all solid and real and perfect, holding her up when all she wanted to do was fall down.

**A/N- Fast update. Round of applause!**

**Well, as Sirius would call it, shit happened in this one. I was seriously looking forward to this plot twist, and it still makes me immensely happy actually. I hope you're as shocked as I am, or at least enjoying the story so far! Thank you guys for the sweet reviews. I could probably cry because it makes me so happy to get feedback like this! I really can't wait for some of the feedback on this chapter in particular. You're all little balls of perfection, okay? Okay. Glad we covered that.**


	19. Encounters and Cameras

Harmony was noticing it, noticing him.

Before, he was just her little brother, all mischievous and annoying in the perfect little brother way. Now, she couldn't look at him. She couldn't look at the darkness.

She couldn't look at the bags under his eyes. She couldn't look at his rapidly thinning hair, lacking shine and curl. She couldn't look at how thin he'd gotten. She couldn't look at how his clothes were always wrinkled, worn out. She couldn't look at Ryan, because Ryan wasn't there anymore. It was a ghost of him. A demon renting his body, renting without paying.

Harmony hadn't looked her brother in the face since he showed up that night, acting all innocent and confused. He stalked into the common room an hour later, having changed his PJ's and brushed his hair, and directed his question at Harmony. "Why the hell did you run off? I came into the room and you apparated away."

She looked right at him, those cold eyes, and said, "A colossal mistake." Harmony then excused herself and vomited her entire stomach out in the dorm room bathroom. She woke up the next morning to cold tiles of the bathroom floor, a nasty pain in her neck, sick feeling in her stomach, and an aching heart.

Harmony tried to stop thinking about that day by lighting up another match from the little box in her numbly cold hands. She threw the match with aggression at the pile of innocent paper resting on the stone ground of the Astronomy Tower. To her immense satisfaction, the pile instantly started to burn where the match had struck, fires erupting.

Her eyes followed the trail of smoke up into the sky, where thousands of stars glinted in the cold end of March night sky.

She thought she had it bad. That was before she found out that her fourteen year old brother was working for Voldemort. Yeah, that was a downer.

She wasn't eating properly, she was overworking herself to keep her mind away from everything, and most of all Sirius was practically attached to her hip. That last thing wasn't bad at all.

Sirius, he was her grip on everything. He made it better, he helped her though her shitty days and her good ones. They related on a whole different level, and no one knew what to call it. Especially not Harmony, for it was something entirely beyond her knowledge. The feelings...they were almost surreal.

Harmony checked her watch, and decided it was time to get back down to the common room. The boys would be arriving back from the full moon any minute, and even though Sirius told her not to wait up because she needed sleep, she did anyway. She always did. And each time, she would worry sick about each and every one of the marauders, especially Remus, for being or handling a werewolf was not shits and giggles.

Harmony cast a quick non-verbal charm, and water burst out of her wand, diminishing the eager flame on the paper. She pocketed her trusty matchbox and made her way through the quiet castle.

"Bum," she muttered the password. The Fat Lady looked embarrassed as she swung the portrait forward, admitting Harmony to Gryffindor Tower. Let's make a long story short in saying the Fat Lady was _very_ drunk when she decided to change the password the night before.

Harmony entered the deserted common room, and she sighed. They weren't back yet. She decided to still wait, and scouted out the comfiest armchair, plopping down in it and curling up like a cat.

The rhythmic ticking of her watch in her ear as she leaned her head on her arm combined with warmth and cackling of the fire made Harmony doze, her mind retiring the debate (best types of fireworks) that had occupied her thoughts for the last ten minutes.

A little while later, Sirius limped in along with James and Peter, Remus being safely taken care of by the Hogwarts matron in the hospital wing.

James pointed to an armchair and said, "She isn't looking good, mate."

Sirius followed James' arm and found Harmony asleep in a little ball by the fire. He limped over, taking in her dark under eye circles, pale skin, and thin wrists. Harmony's hair, however, was as crazy and curly and shiny as ever.

"You lot go up, I'll be a minute." Sirius called over his shoulder to his mates, not even sparing them a glance.

"Harmony," he shook her gently, and to his surprise she woke up immediately.

"Sirius!" Harmony yelped, her forest-coloured eyes flying open. She jumped about four feet in the air.

"Hey, you shouldn't have stayed up. You're exhausted." Sirius said gently, now kneeling in front of her armchair.

"Sirius, I'm always going to stay up." She sighed. "I can't settle until I know you're safe."

Sirius smiled. He painfully got to his feet, which didn't escape Harmony's notice. "What happened this time, love?" She asked gently, following Sirius' lead and getting to her feet.

"Just a couple of scratches." Sirius replied nonchalantly, looking anywhere but at Harmony.

"I believe you told me that about those horrible nail marks from Bellatrix back at Christmas." Harmony reminded, smiling gently.

Sirius sighed, and said, "You're going to keep me captive here until I show you, aren't you?"

Harmony stood, pulling her zip jumper tighter around her cold body. "Pretty much."

Sirius sighed, and took off his shirt. There was a deep, bleeding gash along his hip bone, along with a couple other scratches and cuts. No others were quite as frightening as the one on his hip, though. "Shit, Sirius! What are you playing at, playing games with him?"

"Hey, how'd you know we were playing games?" Sirius asked, shocked.

"I know you and James. You can't help yourselves. Especially while in the company of a riled up werewolf." Harmony sighed, reaching for her wand on the wooden table beside the still-warm armchair.

"Harmony, you don't have to; you should go to bed." Sirius crossed his arms over his fit chest.

"Shut up, Sirius." Harmony replied, deciding what spell to use. "Couch." She pointed to the Gryffindor-coloured red couch and Sirius laid down obediently.

Sirius wisely kept quiet as Harmony breathed out her familiar healing spells, and eventually the wound started to close. "It'll still hurt, and my work isn't great because it's so deep and it's a werewolf scratch, but it stopped bleeding." Harmony told him, standing up and surveying her work.

A moment went by where Sirius was still sprawled on the couch, his hip awkwardly sticking up.

"...you can get up now." Harmony leaned on the armchair, the fire warming her body.

"Shh, I'm seducing you." Sirius replied, screwing up his face and looking up at her with half-closed eyes.

"Well it's not working. I can tell you that." Harmony said. "You look drunk and ready to pass out."

Sirius' face twitched as he tried to contain a smile.

Harmony, however, didn't try to contain anything when she burst out laughing. It felt so good to laugh, laugh hard and not worry about everything for a moment that she found she couldn't stop. She was still in hysterics as she stumbled over to a now-laughing Sirius. She leaned down and hugged Sirius around the neck. And right when she went to pull back, trying to calm down, he grabbed her waist and pulled her down on top of him.

And that set them of again, in body-shaking, tear-flowing, ab-forming hysterics.

About ten minutes later, Peter stumbled down the boys' staircase, looking absolutely petrified. "What-what are you doing?"

He took in the scene: the empty common room, roaring fires, long shadows, and finally the red couch containing a bundle of tangled limbs and loud laughter.

Sirius heard Peter, Harmony looking over too. It was silent for about four seconds until Harmony tried to contain a snort. Then, to Peter's utter confusion and astonishment, they both started up again. It looked as though Harmony was trying to stand up, roll off Sirius, but she was too hysterical to control her muscles.

Sirius vaguely registered that Peter had scurried off back up the stairs, hiding from all this insanity.

Harmony and Sirius slowly started to calm, until it was just giggling. She shakily used Sirius' pillow-propped up shoulders to push herself off him.

"What-what happened?" Harmony asked, grinning. She leaned over Sirius and collected all the fireworks that had come out of her pockets while rolling around like a maniac.

"I believe we took a short, fun trip to the land of insanity. I rather liked it." Sirius smiled crookedly and stood, retrieving his shirt.

"It did feel good." Harmony agreed, nodding. She looked down and cringed at the state of her clothing. Her sweater was hanging off one arm, hair completely tangled up in the other sleeve, her t-shirt shirt was crumpled up, revealing the waistband of her yoga pants - which were completely twisted. The back tag was settled on her hip.

"Look what you did to me." She chuckled, gesturing to her frazzled-up self. "Isn't this a kerfuffle."

Sirius grinned and stalked over. He gently removed her sweater and put it back on after untangling the hair. He smoothed out her white t-shirt and turned her pants back in order, knuckles brushing against her hip bones. "There you go." He smiled. "Wait," then he leaned over and patted her hair a bit, trying to control it.

"That's a lost cause." She crossed her arms as his elbow narrowly missed colliding with her nose.

"Not entirely." He muttered, eyebrows furrowing as he concentrated.

Harmony patiently waited while he patted and smoothed and detangled her insane hair. Finally, he pulled back. "Even if it's crazy, I like it."

Harmony cocked her head to one side and said, "Thanks?"

"It defines you." Sirius tapped Harmony's nose affectionately. "If you ever try to make it straight I'll throw you in the lake."

"Believe me, my hair doesn't _do_ straight."

"It's straight at the top, like kinda wavy." Sirius commented, considering her hair. "Then it gets all long and ringlet-y."

"Yup." Harmony laughed, pushing herself up off the chair so she collided with Sirius' strong body. It didn't even phase him. He was thin, but a fit thin that had strength; one you didn't want to get in a fistfight with. Or a game of Quidditch.

"Your hair..." She started. "Well, it's your hair."

"Thanks." He said flatly.

"That must have had a toll on your confidence. Sorry about that." She said, grinning.

"Yeah, I'm wounded!" Sirius agreed, sticking a bottom lip out childishly.

Harmony started pecking the bottom lip repeatedly with her own lips, until it eventually stopped pouting.

"I should pout more often." Sirius tucked the one stray hair of hers behind her ear. It was no use, because it always slipped out, but he liked doing it.

"Don't expect me to kiss you every time. I only do it if you deserve it." Harmony told him, settling her hands on his t-shirt clad chest.

"I deserved that one?"

"Yeah, because I insulted you without you provoking me." Harmony smiled lightly, the little burst of energy from her laughing high slowly wearing off.

"You're tired. You should sleep." Sirius said, not letting go of Harmony.

She hugged him around the middle, his chest providing a solid surface for her to rest her head. "I don't think I want to."

"Why's that?"

"Because then I'd see you dead."

Sirius leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Well, I have a solution."

He had an arm around her waist a he took Harmony up the staircase to his dorm. "You sure they won't mind?" Harmony whispered, gesturing to the sleeping shapes of James and Peter.

"Have they before? Besides, it's five in the morning. They can't do anything about it." Sirius countered, guiding her over to his bed.

"Fuck, Sirius. We have school in like four hours." Harmony yawned.

"Not if we're sick tomorrow."

Harmony chuckled. "You make me do bad things, Sirius Black."

"Good." Sirius smiled tiredly. He realized how utterly exhausted he was from chasing a werewolf all night.

Harmony threw her sweater off and climbed into Sirius' familiar bed. His scent was present everywhere, and it calmed her down immediately. It reminded her of all those nights she had bad nightmares or he was sore and tired from the full moon and just wanted to have her comfort.

Sirius had went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, and so Harmony spread the blankets properly and fixed the pillows to keep herself awake until he came back.

Sirius came out of the bathroom, pulled his shirt off, and slipped in beside Harmony. His breath smelled minty as he pecked her cheek.

"Goodnight," she breathed out, turning her body onto her side to cuddle into him.

"Goodnight." He replied, his voice already thick with sleep as he intertwined their fingers under the quilted cover blanket.

* * *

"We're sick." Sirius muttered.

Harmony squeezed her eyes together, willing her slumber not to shatter.

"No, you're not." A female voice said sharply.

Harmony groaned internally, already picturing Lily in her uniform, arms crossed and foot tapping on the floor.

"You're going to be late! I know you don't like waking up, but this is ridiculous." Lily snapped.

Harmony suddenly felt a mighty tug on her leg and she went tumbling off the bed. "WHAT THE FUCK?" She screeched, opening her eyes from the ground. She'd pulled all the covers off with her.

"Get up! Class starts in twenty minutes!" Lily said angrily. "Glad to see you're fully clothed, though."

"Lily!" Harmony yelled, struggling into a sitting position. The light coming from the window was blinding.

"Harmony!" Lily mocked, prodding Sirius with her wand. He blindly threw an arm up to the pointy wood assaulting his back. He missed entirely.

"LILY?!" James roared, sitting straight up in his bed, eyes blinking rapidly into the sudden bright light. His eyes were big and very hazel without his glasses on.

Sirius snorted from his bed, face still in the pillow.

"James-!" Lily cried, outraged. "You-WHY AREN'T ANY OF YOU UP?"

"It was Harmony's fault!" James yelled, gesturing wildly to the complete opposite side of the room that Harmony was on.

Harmony sat up, leaning against the wall. "I'm over here, you hippogriff."

They must have looked like a sight: James sitting bolt straight in his bed blinking confusedly and pointing blindly at Peter, Sirius face first in his pillow without blankets, and Harmony and her crazy hair sitting in a bundle of cover on the floor.

"You know what?" Lily said, scary calm. "I'm not even going to bother."

"Collect homework for us!" Harmony called, so quiet that Sirius snorted.

Lily left and Sirius said muffled, "Come back. I'm cold."

"PADFOOT!" James screamed like a twelve year old. "LILY SAW ME WITHOUT A SHIRT!"

"SHUT _UP_ PRONGS!" Sirius roared, as Harmony climbed back into bed.

James giggled joyfully and bolted out of bed, reaching for his uniform, clearly now wide awake.

"I'M IN HERE DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS JAMES POTTER." Harmony shut her eyes tightly curled up into a ball because James had popped the button off his jeans that he slept in from the night before, and was in the process of removing them when Harmony yelled.

Sirius started laughing, the pillow still eating his face.

"Right!" James said, running into the bathroom, the door slamming.

"Can we sleep?" Sirius moaned.

"Yes." Harmony breathed out, relaxing into a comfortable position and falling rapidly asleep again.

* * *

Harmony pushed open the door to the marauder's dorm room with her hip, her hands occupied by the tray of food and drinks in her arms.

It was about two in the afternoon, and she'd woken up a half hour before because her stomach was rumbling painfully. So, she a crept out of bed and snuck down to the kitchens for food while classes were still in progress.

"Sirius," Harmony singsonged to his still sleeping frame.

There was no response, so she tried a couple more times. Still nothing.

"SIRIUS I'M SHIRTLESS!" Harmony yelled as loud as she could.

Sirius shot up in bed and groggily scanned the room for any signs of a shirtless Harmony.

"Tricked you," she grinned, while flopping down on his bed next to him.

"That was unfair!" Sirius cried, adjusting his body in a comfortable sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and said, "You mischievous being."

"That's me." Harmony reached for the tray, "But I brought you food so you'll automatically forgive me for waking you up."

"You're forgiven," Sirius muttered, his eyes taking in the food hungrily. "I could eat a hippogriff. That's how hungry I am,"

"DIBS ON THE CARROTS." Harmony told him instantly.

He looked at her funny and said, "You're weird."

"Wow, that took you a _really_ long time to figure out. With most people, they discover that lovely fact within seconds of a conversation with me." Harmony sipped from the warm mug of coffee on the tray.

She reached to put it down but Sirius grabbed it from her hands eagerly, taking a sip. "What's the time?"

"Two." Harmony replied.

He nodded and they ate in a comfortable silence

"Let's go to the common room." Harmony suggested, after they had cleaned the tray of food.

"I just need a shirt," Sirius climbed out of the bed, stumbling around while looking for a shirt.

Harmony stood and walked over to him. "How do you feel this morning?"

"Good. You fixed me up well." Sirius smiled.

Harmony glanced down to see that the cut was healed, but there was dry blood smeared everywhere. "Hold on, I'm going to clean that up. Don't put a clean shirt on yet."

She walked over to the bathroom. When she entered, it smelled of cologne and had towels, toothbrushes, and various deodorants strewn all over the countertop. Harmony located a clean washcloth and wet it, squeezing it so it wouldn't drip on the way there.

Sirius was seated on Remus' tidy bed when she came back out. He was trying to flatten his hair in vain.

Harmony smiled, set the warm cloth on his bare shoulder, and moved his hands away from his head. She gently combed it with her fingers as his own fingers danced around her waist and tickled her back lightly.

"There, now it looks fantastic." Harmony told him, pulling away to inspect her work. It looked half-normal now.

"Thanks." Sirius said, getting to his feet. "Try not to check out my chest too much, or my abs. The perfection is known to burn eyes."

"You know what else burns eyes?" Harmony smiled evilly. "The fireworks that I glue to them."

Sirius backed down with a laugh. "Okay, alright."

Harmony lightly trailed the washcloth over all his little scratches on his chest, the blood coming off easily. She turned him around gently and repeated the process on his back. Finally, she tackled the biggest wound on his hip, dry blood glued to his skin and the waistband of his boxers, which was visible.

"Ouch," he muttered quietly, flinching as Harmony applied pressure to the gash while trying to scrape off the blood.

"Sorry." She said instantly, continuing to wipe, but more gentle. She finished and leaned away from him. "That's going to be a nasty bruise."

"Aren't they all." Sirius sighed, then stalked over to the messy closet for a clean shirt.

He selected one off the hanger (for record it was the _only_ one on a hanger) and slipped it on, Harmony's eyes following his every move as she leaned back against the bed post.

"Isn't that James' shirt?" Harmony asked, smiling.

"I have no idea. I don't keep track." Sirius grinned, throwing what looked to be Remus' jumper on. "Is that bad?"

"I think it's adorable; the level of 'brother-ness' you've all come to terms with." Harmony chuckled, throwing her arms around Sirius.

"We're brothers. At heart." Sirius said loyally.

"Even Pete?" Harmony asked tentatively, for Peter had always seemed like the follower, the little outcast.

"Even Wormtail. You'd be surprised, how much that little bloke contributes to pranks and such. He's great when you get to know him." Sirius told her truthfully, an arm around Harmony's waist and the other cupping her face.

Harmony nodded and leaned up to kiss Sirius on her tippy toes. She felt Sirius smile as he kissed her back.

Suddenly, there was a camera flash and Harmony and Sirius shot apart. "Bloody hell," Sirius muttered.

"SURPRISE!" James yelled brightly. "I took this period off to see you guys! Although I was hoping for something a bit more exciting." James frowned down at the picture he had taken.

"James!" Harmony yelled. "What the hell?"

"Oh, did I interrupt something?" James grinned, flopping down on his bed. "You'll never guess what happened!"

"What?" Harmony said tiredly, sitting on Remus' bed.

"I said hi to Lily at breakfast this morning and she said hi back! But here's the best part - she blushed!" James said ecstatically.

"James, sweetheart," Harmony began. "Lily blushes at the word 'poop'. Don't take it as a sign."

"But-but-" James said, his head deflating.

Sirius kicked Harmony, so she said hurriedly, "Well-uhm, you never know. It could definitely mean something."

James' eyes turned serious behind his glasses. "Guys," he said. "I think I love her."

Harmony sighed, sympathy oozing from her every pore. "Oh James." She went over and sat down beside him. "You need to give it time, okay? You need to wait for her. She'll come around. Can I tell you something?" She whispered, nudging his shoulder.

He nodded, leaning in. "She had - has - feelings for you." Harmony told him.

"W-what?" He recoiled, eyes wide. "If you're shitting me-"

"What kind of person do you think I am? I'm not shitting you, you prat." Harmony sighed. "Long story short, she has feelings for you, and has for a while, but they've just been buried, hidden because of all the dick moves you've pulled."

James looked at her with a new light. "For-for real?"

"Yes, James!" Harmony laughed. "You need to mature more, you need to stop your mindless bullying that I know you do when she's not around. She has the ability to love you, but you, and you only, can activate it."

James smiled widely, "I can so do this."

"I like to hear the confidence," Harmony smiled too, giving James a quick one-armed hug.

James held on, lifting her up and spinning her around. "I CAN SEE IT! LILY EVANS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE LILY POTTER ONE DAY!" He screeched.

"OI!" Sirius yelled from across the room. "Put my constellation down." He said childishly.

James set Harmony down, and ran over to Sirius, giving him a bear hug. "Will you be my best man?"

"What?" Sirius recoiled, looking horrified from James to Harmony.

Harmony snorted with laughter. "Were you not paying attention to the conversation we just had?"

"Well, not entirely-"

"James'll fill you in!" Harmony said cheerfully, moving to make her exit as James started babbling on about One Million and One Things That Are Perfect About Lily Evans.

Harmony went up to Sirius, gave him a lingering kiss on his soft lips, and left to wait outside the dorm in the common room.

Sure enough, Sirius came down about five minutes later, looking slightly traumatized. "What did he say this time?"

Sirius looked weirded out. "He, uhm...this is weird. She's your best mate."

"And I've been your best mate for quite a while. I'm pretty sure I can handle it." Harmony suppressed a grin while getting up from the couch. His face was priceless.

"Well, I'm not going to repeat anything because I might vomit talking about Lily like that, but he, uh, went into specifics about his little honeymoon fantasies."

Harmony started laughing. "That's hilarious! How did you get away?"

"Told him to write them down and I'll read them later." Sirius swallowed.

"Sirius! He's writing pornography up there all alone...oh man, poor bloke." Harmony was still laughing, Sirius joining in.

"Let's leave before he decides to read them aloud to us." Sirius grabbed Harmony's hand and together they ran out of the portrait hole and throughout the castle.

Finally, the two had to stop from laughing so hard. "Where do you want to go?" Harmony asked, leaning against the wall to catch her breath.

"How about the room of requirement?" Sirius suggested.

"Sure." Sirius intertwined their fingers as Harmony replied. The bell rang suddenly, and the hungry and relived rush of students flowed like lava and an erupting volcano out of the classrooms.

"Blimey," Sirius muttered, as thunder cracked outside the castle. Another famous Hogwarts thunderstorm.

He pulled them into a shortcut behind a tapestry. "Do you have these bloody things all over the castle?" Harmony spit a spiderweb out of her mouth, trying not to panic from the darkness and presence of spiders.

"Pretty much." Sirius pulled her through to the other side, to where the corridor was empty.

Well, almost empty.

"Ryan," Harmony hissed, trying to go back into the tapestry.

He had already seen them. "Harmony...Black."

"Afternoon, Sea." Sirius said politely, gripping Harmony's hand tightly.

"You don't have to always be touching her, you know. We get that she's been tricked into your little game. No need to rub it in when you break her heart." Ryan spat, his temper flaring out of no where.

"Ryan!" Harmony snapped. "Stop it!"

"Just shut up, Harmony. You don't know what I do. He's a right git. All he'll do is snog you then leave you. How long has this one lasted?" He shot the last part at Sirius, stomping over.

"Almost two months, thank you very much! And you don't know anything about us!" Sirius yelled.

"I know that all you do is snog! When was the last time you had a serious conversation? You're using her!" Ryan shot back, his dark eyes flashing.

Sirius looked at Harmony, disbelief written all over his face. "Where is this coming from?"

"It's his mind, that's what." Harmony spat, getting out from behind Sirius. "It's all in that twisted, warped mind of yours."

"W-what? You're being ridiculous."

"Don't lie to me. You're not the little boy you used to be, the innocent boy." Harmony whispered.

"What are you on about?"

"Harmony," Sirius warned, placing a hand on her back.

"It's tearing me apart, Sirius. I can't stand it. I thought I'd last more than a week and a half, but apparently that's not going to happen."

"I, uh-" Ryan looked nervous.

Suddenly, a burst of noise was heard and a big group of Hufflepuff fifth years came down the hall, chatting loudly. Harmony and Sirius turned to look, and when they had turned back to Ryan they found only empty air in his place.

"He's ought to know," Sirius said finally.

A tapestry burst into flames beside Harmony. She was clearly seething. "He's a fucking muggleborn! Surely he realizes that he's going to die in the end?"

"Okay," Sirius said quietly, knowing a full scale rant was going to come on if he didn't do something. "Listen, let's not-"

"I have to do something! I'm sitting back, watching that smelly old snake ruin my little brother! I have to protect him. Why does it have to be me? Why the fuck does it have to be me? Why am I so important? So vital, killing a good part of his army? I'm just a loser, the little no-life bookworm. I _still_ don't know why I was even put into Gryffindor!" Harmony sunk to the floor in a defeated manner. "I don't want this. I want everything to be back the way it was."

Sirius slid down the cold stone wall and took a seat next to her. She went on, "I hardly have a place at school, never mind in this war. I want to know why it had to be me, why my family got dragged into all this dark Death Eater shit. I would be able to handle it if it was just me, but Sirius," Harmony turned to him desperately. "you have no idea. I'm losing it. I worry, every second of every day, for all you guys. For my biological family and my soul one." Harmony wiped her eyes, anger and hate and fear seeping into her mind.

"I do know. I do know, Harmony. I really do. My family is fucked up. Beyond fucked. The only one I genuinely care for is Reg. The only one. I worry, like you, constantly, because I don't want him to be dragged down by all the darkness. I want him to float, like I did." Sirius turned to Harmony, looking right into her forest eyes. "You're beautiful, you're innocent, you're hilarious, you're kind, caring, sweet, fun, creative, and so many other things I can't even begin to describe. You belong here, you have a place. You're a Gryffindor, and I've never met someone more worthy of that title. I don't know about you, but without all this war, I wouldn't have connected with you, related, bonded. So, let's look on the bright side. We have amazing and outstanding friends. We have a warm place to call home." He gestured around them to the strong ancient walls of Hogwarts. "And Harmony?" He lifted her chin gently with his fingers. "We have each other."

Harmony took one look at Sirius, then she launched herself at him, breathing in his scent and feeling the solidness of his body against hers; thanking her every lucky star that this boy entered her life. "What would I do without you?"

"What would I do without _you_?" Sirius laughed, his chest rumbling.

It was quiet as they held each other.

"I lied. I don't want everything to be the way it was before," Harmony looked up at him, her eyes wide with raw honesty. "otherwise I wouldn't have you."

Sirius kissed her. And kissed her and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.

They kissed until their lips were swollen, until Sirius smelled of Harmony's perfume and Harmony of Sirius' cologne. They kissed until they were somehow standing, stumbling around and knocking over a suit of armour.

They kissed and didn't stop until James stumbled across them with his bloody camera again.

"James!" Harmony yelled, still wrapped around Sirius. "You bloody git."

"I can sell this!" James exclaimed, laughing so hard tears ran down his face.

"Done writing down your fantasies, I'm assuming?" Sirius shot.

"Shut it." James muttered, turning beat red and lowering the camera. "Everyone is looking for you. You'll miss dinner."

Harmony sighed, not wanting to end this moment. Finally, she pulled away from Sirius, but never letting go of him the whole way back to Gryffindor Tower.

**A/N- Wow I just keep pumping these updates out like newlyweds and children. Hopefully you're enjoying them! The end of the summer-ish I'll be much busier (my best friend is on vacation currently), so I'm trying to write a lot and get some material out for my absences! Go listen to the Neighborhood, because they're perfect. I've been a fan for about a year, and I have every word memorized of their newest album. FLAWLESS IS MY FAVOURITE JDKSKNCS**

**Oh and I need to give a shoutout to Lewtam because their review really made my day. Thanks!**


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